By Zweli Martin Dlamini

With the integrity of Judiciary and or public confidence in our justice system on its knees, it is slowly becoming pointless to fight for social and political injustice through the courts, because most of the Judges are captured and accountable to the royal dictatorship not the Constitution.

Judges, particularly Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala should conduct an introspection to ascertain why they are manipulating the law to legitimize the political dictatorship in this country. Indeed, we have a ‘chameleon’ CJ who presides over cases and went on to speak politics, hence civil servants will never enjoy justice in their fight for a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). But the truth of the matter is that we do have credible Judges in the country who are willing to preside over cases independently, the problem is, our judiciary is rotting from the head like a fish. The pain and suffering of these civil servants who are brutalized and subsequently denied justice by the courts over a genuine demand of COLA is now a major concern. It is for these reasons I am challenging their Lordships, particularly the CJ to conduct an introspection why he decided to be used as a tool to oppress the over one million citizens. The history of the CJ while he was a University Law student suggests that he used to have a progressive mind with energy to fight for justice but now he is doing completely the opposite.

But then, despite the challenges we have with our justice system, let me commend some of the Judges particularly the female ones who are trying to stand for justice even under the difficult situation. Recently, I read a fair judgement by Justice Mummcy Dlamini who ruled that a disputed land at Mbikwakhe belonged to the Family of God Church after she was satisfied with the evidence presented before her. The church whose leader is former Justice Minister David Matse was embroiled in a legal battle with businessman Nhlanhla Macingwane, they both claimed ownership of the land. The church submitted before court that it was allocated by the Mbikwakhe Royal Kraal while Macingwane alleged that he was allocated by another powerful faction at Kwaluseni, the King’s Council. Judge Mummcy Dlamini concluded that both the businessman and the church were victims of the two factions who allocated them the same land and ordered the Royal Kraal to compensate Macingwane with another land, what a fair judgement! In this case, the Judge used the law to bring a solution to the fight by taking into account the interest of both the applicant and the respondent. In coming to this conclusion, the Judge noted that both the church and the businessman were victims of the fighting for power between the Kwaluseni Royal Kraal and the King’s Council that allocated them land. 

The judiciary should not be an extension of dictatorship, but it should be a symbol of justice where people regardless of status in society can run to for solutions. The tendency by the government to successfully stop legal strikes through the courts and deprive civil servants their right to protest should not be taken lightly. Justice Maphalala must resign as the CJ and stand for elections as a Member of Parliament or Bucopho if he aspires to be a politician not to mess up our justice system.