Justice Minister Prince Simelane’s sudden emergence to welcome the President of the Law Society of Eswatini(LSC) Mangaliso Magagula confirmed the power-struggle within the corridors of power amid looming impeachment seeking to remove Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala on allegations of corruption and/or abuse of power.
Whether Judge Titus Mlangeni sentenced Magagula without being influenced, his harsh sentence amounts to reasonable suspicion that, he was used or is complicit to the plot to destroy lawyer Magagula who might be part of the judicial panel amid looming impeachment of the Chief Justice.
When King Mswati appointed the Judicial Service Commission(JSC), perhaps Chief Justice thought he is now “off the hook” unfortunately he is not, King Mswati wants his removal to be as clean as possible.
King Mswati normally avoids things that will expose that he is an absolute Monarch, he removes and appoints Judges at his own discretion, he wants to be seen acting on the recommendations of the legitimate bodies, in this regard, the Judicial Service Commission.
Judge Mlangeni and the Chief Justice are not close buddies but perhaps, they found them having a common enemy in Law Society of Eswatini President Mangaliso Magagula,
Unfortunately they might not know that about two(2) months ago, Magagula was part of the highest meeting whose contents I cannot divulge here for ethical reasons.
Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala will eventually be impeached by the newly appointed Judicial Service Commission and, using judicial power with his ‘on and off’ friends like Judge Mlangeni won’t save him because he messed-up the justice system.
The judiciary and/or Judges have a legal obligation to protect and preserve the integrity of courts by upholding the judicial code of conduct, jailing a lawyer merely for drafting court papers is “absolute madness” and will not, in any way, protect the dignity of the justice system.
Indeed, it’s absolute nonsense to sentence a lawyer merely for doing his job, claiming you are protecting the integrity or dignity of the court through contempt of court proceedings.
In my view, protecting the dignity of the judiciary must start with the Judges legal obligation to uphold the judicial code of conduct, Judges must conduct themselves in a manner that inspire confidence in the justice system.
Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala and Judge Mlangeni must know that, the emergence of Justice Minister Prince Simelane was a loud signal, this is an influential Prince within the royal family.
Justice Minister Prince Simelane hates corruption with passion, it’s very hard to find anything linking him to corruption maybe, we are yet to find something.
Judge Mlangeni committed a huge blunder with his harsh sentence and even if he was trying to correct lawyer Mangaliso Magagula who was consistently criticizing the Chief Justice on corruption allegations, the harsh sentence amounts to abuse of judicial power.
Jailing the lawyer was a clear demonstration that, there’s a plot here to destroy Magagula so that the judicial panel that will soon impeach the Chief Justice could be weak, some of us know what is happening here.
Lawyer Mangaliso Magagula might have crossed the line in some cases and behaved in a manner that seemed to be undermining the courts or Judges but, in the Galp Eswatini matter, he was doing his job, drafting court papers on behalf of his client.
In light of the aforementioned, it is worth mentioning that, the harsh sentence imposed on the Law Society President by Judge Titus Mlangeni amounts to “absolute nonsense”, that was not a corrective or deterrence measure but a vindictive sentence.
But in conclusion, let me remind Judge Mlangeni and the Chief Justice that, eSwatini is an absolute Monarchy, the very same appointing authority that appointed them might appoint their enemy or might be trusting or receiving legal advise from their enemy behind the scenes.
Even though the looming removal of the Chief Justice was discussed in the corridors of power and kept a top secret, the emergence of the Justice Minister to welcome the Law Society President at the entrance of Sidvwashini Prison on Friday was a loud signal, the political curtain is now a see through.
Justice Minister Prince Simelane welcoming Law Society President Mangaliso Magagula.