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“Dangerous” for politician to head Seychelles Human Rights Commission - judges
“Dangerous” for politician to head Seychelles Human Rights Commission - judges

WHEN prominent Seychellois lawyer and political figure, Alexia Amesbury, decided to contest a seat on the country’s human rights commission, she came up against an apparently immovable obstacle: the law disqualifies candidates who hold office in or are employed by political parties from sitting on the HRC. Undeterred, she contested the constitutionality of the relevant sections of the law in the constitutional court of Seychelles. There the judges found it international best practice for such commissions to be "impartial" and without overt party political presence and so Amesbury lost her challenge to all but one of the sections she targeted. The government, however, is appealing even that small victory and so the case is now headed back to court.

Tough, controversial contempt decision by Zambia’s highest court sends corruption activist to jail for six years

JUST days after a major international human rights organization released a report expressing concern about the level of official intolerance in Zambia, that country’s highest court has convicted an anti-corruption activist of contempt of court, sentencing him to an effective six years in jail. It is a controversial decision with human rights activists on both sides. The convicted man is Gregory Chifire, director of the Southern African Network Against Corruption, who questioned the outcome of an appeal in a high-profile commercial matter involving enormous financial stakes. His organization and others like Amnesty International have slammed his conviction and sentence. On the other side, the Law Association of Zambia welcomed the outcome, earlier having expressed concern about media allegations that judges, as well as some of LAZ’s own members, were corrupt in their handling of the controversial commercial case.

Kenya: Judicial Service Commission demands recusal of Supreme Court justices

IN an extraordinary move, Kenya’s judicial service commission has tried to persuade virtually all of that country’s top judges, from the chief justice down, to recuse themselves from hearing a matter involving the JSC. The commission argued that as this would disqualify the supreme court from hearing the matter, the decision of the lower court should stand as the final word.

Former top Namibian judge, cleared on all sexual misdemeanor counts by the Supreme Court, now wants to sue

AFTER one of the most lengthy and grueling trials in Namibian history, former Supreme Court judge Pio Teek has finally been acquitted on all counts of sexual misbehavior first laid against him in January 2005. This week’s Supreme Court decision clearing him completely pointed out examples of shoddy work in the case by police investigators and others, and warned that the “systemic failures” evident in the case brought the system of criminal justice into disrepute. It could result “in a travesty of justice”, said the judges. Though the criminal case has now come to an end, there is a strong likelihood that former Judge Teek will sue over the charges and the state’s handling of the matter.

Namibia’s retired Judge Pio Teek and his daughter lose defamation claim bid

FORMER Namibian supreme court judge, Pio Teek, has featured in judicial decisions more than once over the last weeks. Most significantly, the Supreme Court has confirmed the retired judge’s high court acquittal as pronounced at the end of his trial for sexual offences in relation to two young girls (see separate story below). The court strongly criticised the police investigation and other aspects of the way the state presented its case. But judgment in a second matter involving the retired judge has also been recently delivered, with the high court refusing a claim for defamation in which Judge Teek and his daughter wanted N$6-million in damages. The case is an off-shoot of a dispute over fishing rights. Judge Teek challenged a claim that he had suggested shares offered to him by an affirmative action fishing company should be registered in the name of his then under-age daughter; then, years later, he objected to an apparent reference to that issue in a separate plea filed in a different case, claiming defamation.

Return Iranian businessman’s passport, high court tells Kenya’s tax authorities

WHEN Iranian businessman Seyed Khavidaki took on Kenya’s tax authorities, not many people would have put money on a bet that he would win. He is, after all, the Kenya country representative of an outfit that allegedly owes Kshs188-m in tax and he is also the only avenue through which the revenue authority can reach the company concerned which has its base in the United Arab Emirates. To keep him in the country, Kenya’s official confiscated Khavidaki’s passport and issued a notice prohibiting him from leaving the country. But he has won at least a temporary victory, with the court ordering his passport returned and the prohibition notice lifted – pending resolution of the tax dispute.

Judge lays down the law for psychologists to testify

FOR as long as anyone can remember psychologists from SA, called to give expert evidence in the courts of their Namibian neighbours, have been able to do so without a problem. But no longer. A new high court decision, delivered as part of what appears to be a bitterly-contested divorce dispute, has held that no psychologist may give expert evidence in court unless registered with Namibia’s professional council – and that includes practitioners from just over the border.

Why does Kenya’s Law School keep making the same legal mistake, asks judge?

IF anyone could be expected to understand judicial precedent it should surely be a country’s law school. After all, this is the body with responsibility for ensuring that the next generation of lawyers understands this crucial, basic concept. But the Kenya School of Law keeps getting it wrong.

Newspaper report leads to judge’s intervention

POLITICAL leaders often refuse to act on the basis of “mere” newspaper reports. But not Zimbabwean judge Alphas Chitakunye. He spotted a story in the media about a magistrates court trial and immediately asked for the record in the case as he feared an injustice had been done.

Recusals in Swaziland and Lesotho: cause for concern?

RECUSAL of judges – when they should stand down, when not and if judges are always properly deciding whether to hear a case – has emerged as a serious issue in both Lesotho and Swaziland. In both those jurisdictions, decisions about recusal have left litigants worried that, with no judges available to hear their matters, they could have no access to justice.

A country waits: when will Zimbabwe’s constitutional court give its long-delayed decision?

PROMPT delivery of decisions is seen as so important that some African countries even discipline judges who do not give judgments within a reasonable time. But in Zimbabwe, the constitutional court has still failed to hand down a crucial judgment two years and eight months after hearing. This in a country where the maximum delay tolerated by the judicial code of ethics is six months.

Swaziland: Chief justice in stand-off with senior lawyer

ONE of Swaziland’s longest-serving attorneys has been banned by the chief justice from appearing in court or even lodging court papers. The chief justice says the attorney was in contempt of court because he disobeyed court orders to pay maintenance in a case where he was executor of an estate. Now the attorney has fired back, saying the move was unconstitutional and that he was denied a hearing: he wants the CJ investigated for misbehavior – and he wants to sue.

The eight allegations against Lesotho’s Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara, and their context

LIKE the former president of Lesotho’s highest court, the Chief Justice may be seen as a victim of the clash between two competing political interest groups: there is now an established pattern in terms of which one party or interest group makes a top judicial appointment and then, when the other grouping gets into power, it seeks to get rid of that jurist and put its own candidate in place. But while this may be the reasoning behind the drive to get rid of top judges, what are the public reasons given by the Maseru government for wanting to suspend and investigate the present Chief Justice?

Lesotho, Namibia, SA judges in controversial recusal decisions

CONCERN and confusion about recusal decisions by judges in the region continued this week. Most significant of these cases was a startling high court order against the chief justice of Lesotho. It was granted by the judge appointed as acting chief justice in her place who, in other jurisdictions, might have been expected to recuse herself. Other cases involving controversial recusal decisions this week come from SA and Namibia. These cases follow our report last week of mounting unease about a series of controversial decisions by judges in Swaziland on whether or when to recuse themselves.

Court bars suspended Chief Justice from entering Palace of Justice

IN a week of high drama, the Chief Justice of Lesotho has been ordered by the high court to stay out of the Palace of Justice and not to carry out any functions relating to her office. This follows her suspension, in apparent defiance of two court orders barring the government from taking steps to ask that the King suspend her.

When courts must be parents

SOMETIMES a court is called on to act as a parent might, and resolve the problems of difficult children. Seldom, though, will two courts in the same country, less than 100 km apart, both hand down such a decision on the same day. But this is exactly what happened in Kenya where two judges both had to deal with errant scholars. The judges found different solutions to the problems before them: one allowed the suspended scholar to write exams at the school, but under strict conditions; the other refused to let the boy involved back onto the campus at all.

When “straying” courts need to be “reined in"

HERE is a rare situation: three judges of Swaziland’s highest legal forum, the supreme court, confessing they are at a loss to understand what is happening in the courts below. This after two high court judges issued contradictory orders in relation to a bail hearing and the supreme court was asked to intervene and sort out the mess. Did the supreme court have the power to do so? It was a novel question, testing certain of its constitutional powers for the first time.

High court protection "doesn't filter down to the lower courts" so this Jifa Alum declared magistrates court processes unconstitutional

NAMIBIAN high court judge Shafimana Ueitele , has been dealing with a sensitive case of injustice: a woman lost her home because the Magistrates Court Act did not give her the protections she would have had under the High Court Act. What should a court do when – as here – the law results in such blatant inequality, causing suffering and injustice? For Judge Ueitele, a JIFA alum, the answer was obvious: declare the relevant part of the law unconstitutional . The existing system meant that not all litigants were equal, he reasoned, and the only way to end the injustice was to ensure that the system itself was changed.

Lesotho’s acting chief justice slows pending litigation brought by sidelined Chief Justice

THE judicial crisis in Lesotho shows no signs of resolution. While the suspended Chief Justice waits in limbo for a tribunal to investigate government claims against her, the acting chief justice has stepped in to stamp her authority on the situation. Among others, the actions of the ACJ have slowed a planned constitutional court hearing scheduled to deal with the dispute between the government and the CJ.

African Court awards compensation for rights violations to Rwanda’s “Nelson Mandela”, Victoire Ingabire

When Victoire Ingabire was released from jail during September 2018, some of her many followers described her as the “Nelson Mandela” of Rwanda. She immediately called for other political prisoners to be freed in addition to those released with her. She said she was prepared to return to prison if that was the price to be paid to win freedom of speech and human rights in Rwanda. This week the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights awarded Ingabire significant reparations for the infringement of her rights by Rwanda and ordered that state to pay the reparations in full within six months or face escalating interest.

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