Africa-Press – Eswatini. “The Supreme Court cannot review its own decision unless there are new facts that were not presented before the court, Government is intending to abuse the courts as a delaying tactic in implementing a salary increment for junior police officers”. ,Human Rights Lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi Says It’S Possible But…
These were the sentiments of a Constitutional expert when asked to share a legal view after Government officially announced that,an application for review will soon be launched.
The Constitutional expert told that, Section 148 of the Constitution was meant to promote justice by allowing litigants to apply for a review, in a case where a judgment was delivered only for new facts to emerge that were never presented before the court.
The expert said a review is filed with the hope or reasonable belief that, the Supreme Court will review and change its decision based on those facts.
“Reasonable belief\” is a legal phrase meaning a person believes something is factual or true based on good judgment and the circumstances of the situation.
“When I read the press statement issued by the Government Spokesperson I asked myself if there are new facts in the matter or umane uyatikhulumela nje. It’s sounds like an intended abuse of the court process”, said the Constitutional expert.
An abuse of court process is when the legal process is used for an illegitimate or ulterior purpose, this include misleading the court,using dilatory tactics and pursuing a hopeless case among others.
It is alleged that, Government is filing the review with an alleged intention to further delay the implementation of the junior police officers under Phase two(2).
But human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlanatsi told this publication that, the intended review will determine if the Supreme Court can review its own decision particularly, in a matter that was determined by five(5) Judges.
“It’s very hard to say the judgement is not reviewable because that should be determined by the Supreme Court itself.But Section 148 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court powers to review its own decision and this means there’s nothing wrong to approach the Supreme Court for a review of its own decision.It’s a wait and see, you will recall that the matter was first determined by three(3) Judges of the High Court and then five(5) Judges of the Supreme Court. The question is; can we conclude that eight(8) Judges erred in the same matter?. The lawyers for the junior police officers must use this opportunity to question the Supreme Court if this is a reviewable judgement”, said the human rights lawyer.
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