By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Chief Justice(CJ) Bheki Maphalala allegedly defied an order from King Mswati directing him to resign as Head of the Judiciary, an independent investigation conducted by this Swaziland News reveals.

The Chief Justice stands accused of abuse of power, fraud and corruption and, the Law Society of Eswatini(LSS) filed an official complaint seeking to remove him, Charity Simelane, the Secretary General of the legal practitioners organization confirmed to this publication earlier.

It has been disclosed that,the delay in the appointment of the Judicial Service Commission(JSC) has been caused by an undercover effort by the King to negotiate with the CJ to resign, royal insiders told this Swaziland News that, Mswati was allegedly avoiding an impeachment as “it will attract unnecessary attention for the country at international level”.

The King is alleged to have been attempting to remove the Chief Justice in a polite and ‘diplomatic’ way and then, reward him with another position.

But the CJ is alleged to be refusing to resign, various emissaries that include Attorney General(AG) Sifiso Khumalo and Justice Minister Prince Simelane allegedly took turns communicating the King’s message or order to the CJ but Maphalala would hear none.

An independent investigation conducted by this publication further uncovered that, about three(3) weeks ago, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Prince Simelane met the Chief Justice at the CJ’s Chambers in Mbabane, the Justice Minister was with Principal Secretary(PS) Dorcas Dlamini and another unidentified official.

It is alleged that again during that meeting, Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala was asked to resign as the Head of the Judiciary.

Reached for comments earlier, King Mswati’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane told this Swaziland News that, the delay in the appointment of the JSC was meant to ensure that credible people are appointed, he said the King would rather delay the appointment in order to make the right decisions.

But there’s was no official confirmation from the King’s Spokesperson suggesting that, the delay was actually triggered by the ongoing effort by Mswati to remove the powerful and politically connected Head of the Judiciary.

“Our experience is that there is no calendar date for the appointments in question and that to pool such a team is a process and not an occasion.It would,therefore,be difficult to figure out when the announcement will be made.We believe stakeholders too,would rather have it done right for many weeks than rushed to meet a deadline half-heatedly”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

The process of removing the Chief Justice has been going-on for sometime now and at some point, eSwatini media reported that, an impeachment process was about to commence however, the process was halted as the CJ “proved to be too powerful” and, Mswati has been struggling to remove him as some of the CJ’s allies are more closer to the Monarch.

But amid the tension,Mswati is alleged to have then opted to frustrate the operations of the Judiciary by delaying the appointment of the Judicial Service Commission, the CJ “is currently grounded and unable to renew contracts for judicial officers”.

As a result and, in the midst of the ongoing process to remove the Chief Justice, Acting Judges, Magistrates and other senior judicial officers are allegedly sitting at home without employment contracts.

The awarding of employment contracts for the Acting Judges, Magistrates and other judicial officers including Master of the High Court Assistants rests solely, with the jurisdiction of the Judicial Service Commission.

It is alleged that this week,the King is highly expected to send one of his Protocol Officers to confirm that, the order directing Maphalala to resign “is actually authentic and comes directly from the Throne” in what might appear as the last effort by King Mswati to remove the Chief Justice in a polite and diplomatic way.

This comes after Maphalala allegedly told those who communicated the order to him that, he was not convinced that, it came from the King.

Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala declined to comment about the matter.

But one of the Principal Secretaries told this publication on Wednesday evening that, the Chief Justice “is proving to be too powerful as he has many influential people on his side including SwaziPharm Director Ashraff Kareem who is allegedly supporting or backing him” to defy the King’s order.

“The process has been delayed because there’s a powerful syndicate backing the CJ including Ashraff so, the King is struggling to remove him. Inesindze lendzaba ya-CJ ngoba as achubeka angafuni ku-resigner, bo-Ashraff are hoping to help him convince the King”,said the Principal Secretary whose name cannot be revealed for ethical reasons.

Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo declined to comment about the matter.

But human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi confirmed that the delay in the appointment of the JSC has resulted to a backlog of cases, Magistrate Courts are facing a backlog of cases, he described the delay in the appointment of the JSC as illegal.

“It is illegal for the Judiciary to function without the Judicial Service Commission because as the situation stands,the permanent Judges and Magistrates are facing a backlog of cases and this, is compromising the quality of the judgements.These Acting Judges and Magistrates some who are sitting at home now, were assisting in handling other cases to avoid the backlog”, said the lawyer when responding to this publication.

Mswati is currently in seclusion as part of the ongoing Incwala ritual ceremony and it remains unclear if he will be able to remove the Chief Justice “who is allegedly backed by a powerful and politically connected syndicate”.