Swazi businesses, including banks and others with matters unresolved at the courts, stand to get the short end of the stick following the decision by Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi to proceed with trying cases at the last session of the Appeals Court despite a long-standing boycott by lawyers.
The move effectively means plaintiffs and defendants will have to represent themselves before the court as the chief justice has insisted matters would be heard on schedule.
“We approach the courts to recover funds from our customers who have defaulted,” said Stanley Matsebula, the president of the Swaziland Bankers Association and managing director of Swaziland’s only locally owned bank.
He said under circumstances where the Supreme Court was in session without lawyers appearing for their clients, companies, especially banks, could lose a lot of money because they could not represent themselves adequately.
At the start of the Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday, lawyers walked out on Justice Ramodibedi and the other Supreme Court judges in protest over the Judicial Services Commission’s refusal to fire the chief justice.
Matsebula said banks were in a fix because even their legal advisers were members of the Law Society of Swaziland and faced being reprimanded if they appeared in court pending the boycott.
“We were also considering hiring advocates from South Africa but also they can only work through the Law Society,” Matsebula said. “Bringing a lawyer from outside the country also has costs implications.”
The Swaziland Federation of Employers and Chamber of Commerce had appealed for the postponement of this session of the Supreme Court to May next year.
Clearly, their plea fell on deaf ears as Justice Ramodibedi told appellants to get their lawyers to come to court or represent themselves as court proceeded. The court is hearing criminal cases this week and will hear civil cases next week.
Yesterday police barred private practice lawyers from entering the High Court following Tuesday’s walkout which embarrassed the chief justice.
“We’re here to deliver justice and that’s why we won’t allow those who want to spoil this session,” Justice Ramodibedi told an appellant who was representing himself yesterday.
Swaziland Federation of Employers chief executive Zodwa Mabuza said more effort needed to be put into solving the impasse.
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We obviously need a mediator in this matter and we’ve decided to seek the intervention of the prime minister,” Mabuza said. “It’s clear that both parties feel strongly about their positions.”
The 2011 Global Competitiveness Index identified Swaziland as one of the countries where competitiveness in doing business was declining. The index ranked Swaziland 126 out of 139 in the year 2010/11 while in the 2011/12 it was ranked 134 out of 142 countries.
UN Development Programme economics adviser Zuzana Brixiova said: “Swaziland has a number of impediments like low investment rates and limited financial depth.”
The judicial crisis did not help as one of the 12 pillars of competitiveness was strong institutions and the independence of the judiciary was very critical. – Mantoe Phakathi