Minister, chief justice please converse
I Tis so disheartening and discouraging to see such an important commission of inquiry into the Office of the Master of the High Court derailed by bickering. The nation has expressed, through Sibaya, its frustrations with the dealings within the Master’s Office. Grave allegations are affecting emaSwati who find themselves in a sad and vulnerable position following the passing of their loved ones. They should find protection and comfort in the hands of the Master of the High Court. In many cases, the Master’s Office has to deal with the most vulnerable of our society, which are the children and the elderly.
Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” Times of death make clearer who the most vulnerable members of society are. In many instances, the vulnerable are always there, hidden in plain sight but people often tend to ignore them until death makes them more visible. In other cases, death turns well-to-do individuals into vulnerable individuals. To the ordinary liSwati, it should not be difficult for the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Prince Simelane and Chief Justice (CJ) Bheki Maphalala to sit together over tea and resolve this matter for the sake of the vulnerable emaSwati affected by the alleged dysfunction of the Master’s Office. The ego trips will not solve anything but affect this very important exercise.
Constitution of Eswatini
The Constitution’s preamble states the following: ‘Whereas it is necessary to protect and promote the fundamental rights and freedoms of ALL in our kingdom in terms of a constitution that binds the Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and the other organs and agencies of the government’. The most important part of this preamble is that it is necessary to protect and promote the fundamental rights and freedoms of all in our kingdom. As an ordinary liSwati reads about the bickering between the minister of Justice, the CJ and the Law Society, he or she wonders how this is serving the nation.
It would appear to the ordinary liSwati that everyone involved in this matter’s situation is claiming that the Constitution gives him the authority to establish a commission of inquiry. This is to the extent that the Law Society is calling for the inquiry to be stopped, stating about 10 reasons for that. When you take time to read their reasons, they actually make sense. They quote various sections of the Constitution supporting their claim. Of course if the inquiry is concluded only to find that it had not been properly constituted them, its findings and recommendations might be invalid.
On the other hand, the CJ also quotes the same Constitution. The CJ is defending the independence of the Judiciary and the powers derived from Sibaya as the highest policy-making body. He says he does not represent a government department but a very important arm of the State. Again, it would appear that the CJ is correct. It is for these reasons that we are calling on the CJ and minister to engage each other, which would be a very simple solution to this problem.
Smokescreens
Smokescreens are slang words for something that you do or say to hide something or to take attention away from something else. There may be a deeper problem than that meets the eye. Instead of doing something about the problem, the two entities responsible are hiding behind a smokescreen of bureaucracy and the Constitution. The reality is that there have been serious allegations of mismanagement of funds running into hundreds of millions of Emalangeni within the Master’s Office. We may never know who is fooling who in this situation, but something is not right.
It would seem the Law Society knows a lot about this matter hence their move to stop the CJ-instigated inquiry. The Law Society informed the CJ that the rightful authority empowered to investigate the Master’s Office was known and ready and willing to do so.
Parliamentary inquiry stopped
A parliamentary inquiry was stopped through an application by the CJ. The question one would ask is, what did the CJ then do after stopping the parliamentary inquiry? Nothing! Maybe we will say he was waiting for Sibaya. This tells me that this problem is not new and the other arm of the State (Legislature) tried to solve it but in vain. It also tells me that even if the Executive arm of the State, which is represented by the minister of Justice, had tried to initiate the inquiry, it might have been stopped. Could it be that the CJ is not happy with someone else drawing up the terms of reference or the scope of the investigation?
Let’s trust appointed judges
Whatever the smokescreens, the nation is looking at the appointed judges to do their duty as if they were appointed by God himself. Luckily, all of them are God fearing. In fact, I dare to say that they have been chosen by God who has heard the crying of the widows and orphans affected by the Office of the Master. That is the reason I suggest that the Minister of Justice, Prince Simelane, whom I know to be God fearing, endorses this inquiry officially to fulfill the dictates of the Constitution and trust that God will lead the process to its natural conclusion and that the ugly truth will be revealed. Unfortunately, I fear that they will spend months and possibly years looking into individual cases only when the real issue may be an accounting one at the Master’s Office. It might not only be legal and administrative issues, but also accounting, money issues. Follow the money paper trail and solve the problem, which will lead to a happy nation. Comment septemereswatini@gmail.com