In our culture, members of the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) cannot meet King Mswati to discuss or officially recommend an Acting Chief Justice, they are still mourning the death of Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala. But this week, I had a conversation with a Judge seeking clarity on who is the Act…
In our culture, members of the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) cannot meet King Mswati to discuss or officially recommend an Acting Chief Justice, they are still mourning the death of Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala.
But this week, I had a conversation with a Judge seeking clarity on who is the Acting Chief Justice, the Honorable Judge gave me a very sound advice saying; “mani kubhala Dlamini kutsi ngubani sitakwatisa naseku-official kutsi ngubani Acting Chief Justice”, a sound advice is a reliable guidance, sensible, well-reasoned, and based on good judgment or solid experience.
The conversation with the Judge was triggered by an article published by an online publication, officially announcing one of the them as the Acting Chief Justice, I was hoping to read an an official confirmation by the JSC in the said article only to stop reading the long news article after realizing that, it was based on legal opinions and interpretations of the Eswatini Constitutional provisions.
In South Africa there’s a policy of the African National Congress (ANC) suggesting that, an elected Deputy President of the party must then, be appointed as the Deputy President of the country after the winning of National elections.
But even in South Africa, the media cannot just disregard the fact that, a Deputy President must be officially appointed and announced by the Head of State when announcing the Cabinet.
But let me once again warn the media and remind journalists that, we don’t have powers to appoint but we are conduits for the dissemination of information to the public.
The Judiciary is sensitive due to it’s power in the administration of justice and therefore, announcing an Acting Chief Justice without confirmation from the appointing authority or the JSC, is tantamount to announcing an Acting Prime Minister or Acting Speaker in the House of Assembly.
It is important therefore to state that, appointment of administrators of the three (3) Arms of Government must be vigorously verified and, it’s ethical journalism to apologize once you have blundered, it demonstrates respect for the Nation and, commitment to upholding the fundamental values and principles of journalism.
The JSC and the entire country is mourning the death of Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala and as the media, we cannot start speculating or prematurely concluding who is the Acting Chief Justice, it’s extremely insensitive particularly if done by a publication that has been attempting to position itself as the “referee of the media”, let’s respect the Nation as journalists and disseminate verified information.
Journalists who aspire to become “referees of the media” analyzing who is ethical or not must lead by example and, we must see them being interviewed by reputable international media outlets on Eswatini issues, if they are globally recognized.
We can’t have journalists who write stories that are never taken seriously by the world, positioning themselves as “referees of the media”, the Press Council of South Africa is the regulator of the media and acts as the ‘referee’ of the media.
Journalism is a very challenging job, we know there are mistakes but there are ethical guidelines stipulating how a journalist who got it wrong must then correct the mistake.
Indeed, there’s nowhere in journalism principles where a journalist is allowed to prematurely announce governing decisions “not even alleging but as a matter of fact” and then, come back with a long novel of analysis trying to correct the blunder instead of informing the Nation that “I was wrong, the JSC is yet to officially announce an Acting Chief Justice”.
It’s a very narcissistic behavior where the author concludes in his/her own world of imagination that, the readers are gullible, the media has a duty to accurately inform the Nation, we are not the appointing authority but our duty is to inform.
Written by
Zweli Martin Dlamini