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The
Swaziland monarchy has retracted a statement that caused a mass
resignation of the country's appeals court judges last year and
plunged the tiny southern African country into a constitutional
crisis.
The six judges, who are all South Africans, had said they would
return to the bench only if King Mswati III undertook to comply
with court orders, which the monarchy repeatedly refused to do
until now.
The king and government officials held a meeting behind closed
doors with the judges at the weekend and afterwards issued a joint
statement to the media.
"His Majesty's government wishes to make the statement that it
unconditionally retracts the contents of the November 28 statement
that the judges of the court of appeal were influenced by external
forces in their work and that they were not independent in forming
those judgments in question," Swaziland attorney general Phesheya
Dlamini said in the statement released Saturday evening.
The November statement refers to a judgment the court handed down
in favour of people returning to land in eastern Swaziland from
which they had been evicted to make way for Mswati's brother,
Prince Maguga.
The Appeals Court ruled that the evictees should return to the
land, only to have their decision overturned by Dlamini, who said
it undermined Mswati's authority to legislate.
The court further ordered that police commissioner Edgar Hillary
and Lubombo regional commander Agrippa Khumalo should be jailed for
30 days after they prevented the evictees from returning to their
homes.
Dlamini said in the latest statement the government respected the
rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and accepted that
it was fundamental to abide by judgments.
The former Judge President, Leon Steyn, said the judges had not yet
decided whether they would return to the bench, but expressed
optimism at the latest developments.
"All that the Swaziland government has to do is to abide by all
rulings of the courts within the next 48 hours if we are to make
meaningful progress in our deliberations," Steyn said in the
statement. – Sapa.
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