High court judges to be sent to Swaziland

The Commonwealth Secretariat is providing two judges for the High Court of Swaziland to help reduce the backlog of civil and criminal cases in that court and to improve the efficiency of the country’s justice sector.

The judges will be selected by the Chief Justice of Swaziland from a list of candidates supplied by the Secretariat.

The two judges will be in Swaziland for two years and as well as hearing cases they will also be involved delivering training programmes for the judiciary and in particular the magistrates and court staff.

In September 2007, magistrates successfully completed a training programme sponsored by the Secretariat which was also designed to reduce the backlog of civil and criminal cases in Swaziland.

The Secretariat is planning to continue to support the training of magistrates to reinforce their skills and competency. This will enable them to hear cases that would otherwise have to be heard in the High Court.

This will be achieved once the Government of Swaziland passes legislation which will increase the jurisdictional limits of the magistrates' courts.

“It should enable the Swaziland judiciary reduce its backlog of cases which in turn will reduce the large number of accused in detention and awaiting trial as well as reduce waiting times for the determination of civil cases,” said Kevin Maguire, Legal Adviser at the Secretariat.

Key Links:

• Country Profile: Swaziland
• Law