By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala might soon be without escorts amid defiance of an alleged royal order directing him to resign as Head of the Judiciary.

The efforts to remove the CJ has been going-on for sometime now and as a result, King Mswati has delayed the appointment of the Judicial Service Commission(JSC), thus grounding the operations of the courts as Acting Judges, Magistrates and Master of the High Court Assistants are without contracts.

But the matter has become a hot potato in the corridors of power, even King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane “is reluctant to clarify the future of the Chief Justice with no convincing response as to when the JSC will be appointed.

“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.

But apart from the delay in the appointment of the Judicial Service Commission,the Ministry of Public Service has been refusing to employ new staff for the Judiciary including Court Clerks pending the removal of the Chief Justice.

Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo declined to comment about matter.

The Chief Justice has allegedly fallen out of favour with King Mswati,he stands accused of corruption, abuse of power and maladministration and, has been allegedly defying a royal directing him to resign.

It is alleged that,the Judiciary “is currently grounded” as a result of the ongoing power-struggle within the corridors of power.

A source told this Swaziland News that,high profile individuals will soon visit the Chief Justice again to confirm that, the order directing him to resign comes from the King.

”This might be the last meeting with the Chief Justice persuading him to resign and thereafter, other measures might be implemented to frustrate the operations of the Judiciary or he might be removed through an impeachment process”, said the source.

Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala avoided questions 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”.