Mbabane - Swaziland’s minister of justice, two judges and a high court official have been arrested on corruption and abuse of power charges.
They appeared in court on Tuesday. Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi evaded arrest for a fourth day by remaining locked in his Mbabane home.
Police surrounded the residence but had not forced entry.
Ramodibedi faces 23 charges of abuse of power and conspiring against the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Swaziland Revenue Authority.
Justice Jacobus Annandale was also arrested by the police’s fraud and commercial crime unit for conspiring with Ramodibedi to produce an order overturning Ramodibedi’s arrest warrant.
Police rejected the order as irregular and continued their siege of the house, where electricity and water have been turned off in order to flush out Ramodibedi.
“It is unclear why (the police) have not entered the house by force. The police in Swaziland have a deserved reputation for smashing their way into houses of people they believe to be pro-democracy activists and arresting occupants,” said former University of Swaziland lecturer Richard Rooney.
Three more conspirators, Minister of Justice Sibusiso Shongwe and High Court Judges Annandale and Mpendulo Simelane, were arrested at their homes and booked at the police headquarters in Mbabane.
High Court Registrar Fikile Nhlabatsi was also arrested for participating in Ramodibedi’s alleged crimes.
The family of imprisoned news editor Bheki Makhubu were at the police headquarters to celebrate Simelane’s arrest when the judge was brought in by police officers.
Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko were sentenced to two years in prison by Simelane in July for writing articles critical of Swaziland’s courts under Ramodibedi.
While hiding out from his arrest warrant, Ramodibedi contends that only King Mswati may order his arrest.
But palace authorities have contradicted this claim. Analysts feel Ramodibedi believes his only hope of avoiding capture is Mswati’s intervention.
Ramodibedi was appointed by Mswati in 2011 against the national constitution, which says only a Swazi may hold the position of chief justice.
Ramodibedi is from Lesotho, where he resigned as president of the Lesotho High Court after impeachment proceedings were mounted against him.
The arrests of the judicial authorities is the main talking point among Swazis, and they are eager to hear Mswati’s views on it, not least to understand if they might presage a return to the rule of law or human rights to the country.
But he ignored the matter while speaking at his 47th birthday celebrations on Monday.
Mswati’s birthday has been decreed an annual national holiday. In his speech Mswati promised an end to poverty, and to achieve full employment and First World status to Swaziland in five years.
Currently, 70 percent of Swazis live in chronic poverty, with unemployment at about 40 percent.
Foreign Service