By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Charity Simelane,the Secretary General(SG) of the Law Society of Swaziland(LSS) has,on behalf of the  organization for lawyers, written a letter to Chief Justice(CJ) Bheki Maphalala requesting him to dissolve or disband the unlawful Commission of Enquiry into allegations of corruption within the Master of the High Court’s Office.

This comes after the CJ usurped powers of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Prince Simelane and went on to appoint the Commission of Enquiry while violating provisions of the Commission of Enquiry Act of 1963.

A questionnaire was sent to the Chief Justice, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

In a letter dated 22nd January 2024 and copied to Justice Minister Prince Simelane and Attorney General(AG) Sifiso Khumalo,the Law Society further accused the Chief Justice of stopping a Parliamentary investigation into the affairs of the Master’s Office on basis that,he and other Judges were directly implicated in allegations of impropriety,maladministration and abuse of power.

“The allegations of impropriety, maladministration and abuse of power in the Master\'s Office involve inter alia lawyers, judges and your office Chief Justice.It is important that the investigation be carried out by other organs of state which are independent, which in any event are the ones with oversight powers,assigned with the responsibility over the Judiciary and Administration of Estates and vested with the power to conduct an investigation or to establish a commission of enquiry”, reads the letter in part.

The Law Society then requested the Chief Justice to disband the Commission of Enquiry and allow lawful authorities to appoint an independent Commission to investigate the Office of the Master of the High Court.

“Honourable Chief Justice, we request that you reconsider your decision to establish the enquiry, disband the Commission and defer this to the lawful authority. The other organs who are empowered to investigate the irregularities in the Master's Office have shown willingness to set up an

investigation. Ironically, a Parliamentary investigation into the Master's Office was stopped by an application instituted by the Chief Justice.The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs is the Minister under whose responsibility the administration of estates falls as per Legal Notice No.189 of 2015,Assignment of Responsibilities.The Minister has the mandate and is empowered by the laws of the country to establish such an enquiry, but your office does not have such mandate and power,” reads the letter in part.