Lawyers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet in Swaziland on Saturday to discuss a judicial crisis in the tiny landlocked kingdom sparked by a mass resignation of appeals court judges last year.
”The choice of Swaziland as a host to the SADC lawyers’ lecture on the rule of law and independence of the judiciary is timely and of critical public interest,” Paul Shilubane, chairman of the Swaziland Law Society, told reporters on Tuesday.
He said the lawyers’ expertise was needed to assist the tiny mountain kingdom, landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique, to resolve its judiciary problems.
Six top South African judges resigned ther posts in the Swazi appeals court in November after Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini questioned a judgment in a case involving the brother of King Mswati III.
The court had issued an order allowing some 200 citizens to return to land from which they were evicted in 2000 after refusing to accept King Mswati’s elder brother, Prince Maguga, as the chief in the area.
Dlamini prompted the judges to resign after he accused them of being influenced by foreigners and saying the order would be ignored.
Shilubane said the SADC lawyers would report back to the SADC secretariat following the weekend meeting.
”It is our hope that the lecture will contribute to awareness among the public of the importance of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and a stable justice system in an economy,” Shilubane said. – Sapa-AFP