MFOMFO: GOOD RIDDANCE SHOULD CJ LEAVE OFFICE

MBABANE – Former Minister of Health Mfomfo Nkhambule says, should the chief justice (CJ) leave office, ‘we would say good riddance’.

This, Mfomfo said when he appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that is investigating allegations of professional misconduct in the Office of the Master of the High Court.
Mfomfo, who is also a former Mtfongwaneni Member of Parliament (MP), raised a number of concerns about the Master’s Office and the manner the estate of his father, Mncene Nkhambule, who died on October 4, 2018, was being handled.

He said he even approached CJ Bheki Maphalala, seeking his assistance. Mfomfo told the commission that he knew the CJ and he welcomed him when he went to see him. According to Mfomfo, he told the CJ about the challenges he was facing at the Master’s Office. The former minister alleged that the CJ told him that in the end, the matter would reach him. Mfomfo said up to now, his family was yet to get the assistance they sought.Mfomfo also stated that even though he was happy with the judges who were part of the commission, he had reservations. He said he hoped that, despite that not everything will be included in the report to be compiled by the commission at the end of the investigation, some of what would be considered by the commission would be used to influence certain decisions.

“This is the CJ’s report. No one will go and ask for it from the CJ. Every time the office of the CJ is brought into disrepute, he is the only casualty. We don’t want him to leave but we will say good riddance. We don’t want to celebrate when he is gone waMaphalala,” said Mfomfo.

Supervisor

He informed the commission that there were certain things that one could not do when they had a supervisor. According to Mfomfo, the CJ was allegedly investigating himself. He said Parliament wanted to investigate the Master’s Office for alleged misconduct and the CJ rushed to court to stop the probe. “The CJ went to court to stop the probe. If it was Parliament that wanted to investigate the Master’s Office, it means that it was, in fact, the people who are represented by the MPs who wanted the investigation. However, the CJ went on and put the commission in place. He is investigating himself,” said Mfomfo.

He also mentioned that in terms of the Eswatini culture, there is no CJ.  The CJ sought to interdict a Parliament Select Committee from investigating alleged gross maladministration, abuse of power and embezzlement of estate monies at the Office of the Master of the High Court.High Court Judge Ticheme Dlamini found that it would not be judicious for the CJ to empanel the bench to hear the matter, as he was conflicted. Judge Dlamini had ordered that the principal judge of the High Court should be the one empanelling the full bench.

Discontent with the judgment of the High Court, the CJ and the commission then filed an application for leave to appeal the High Court judgment that was issued on April 8, 2022.
Supreme Court Judge Jacobus Annandale granted the CJ and the JSC leave to appeal the judgment. He found that there were prospects of success. The matter will be heard by the Supreme Court on February 29, 2024 and at this stage, the parties will be dealing with the question, as to who has the authority to empanel the full bench at the High Court to hear the matter.

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