Chaos at Skukuza Regional Court amid alleged illegal instruction

Chaos reigned in the corridors of the regional court here last week after a seemingly illegal instruction was given to move all the sittings to the Hazyview Magistrate’s Court.

This instruction was issued by Naomi Engelbrecht, the regional court president (RCP) of Mpumalanga.

This is the second time in five years that Engelbrecht has taken a decision that the regional court in Skukuza be closed.

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According to her instructions, the court cases, of which the bulk are related to rhino poaching, will in future be held in Hazyview.

The instruction came in the same week in which at least 10 rhinos were killed in the Kruger National Park (KNP).

In 2020, Engelbrecht engaged in a head-on confrontation with the former judge president, Francis Legodi, when she also issued instructions that the Skukuza Regional Court must be moved to Mhala Magistrate’s Court.

Skukuza is the main hub where most of the rhino poaching-related cases are heard.

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At the time, the decision was met with serious objections, not only from environmental organisations, but also the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the ministers of justice and environmental affairs, the police and SANParks.

The matter caused major conflict between Engelbrecht and Legodi when she bluntly refused to reverse her decision.

Early last week she once again gave instructions that all regional court cases must in future be heard in Hazyview.

Massive confusion erupted last Thursday when the regional court prosecutor, Adv Abednigo Mgiba, all the accused, witnesses and legal teams were sitting in Skukuza, while the magistrate, Mbongeni Ngobeni, was in Hazyview.

Ngobeni told the legal teams he was there on instruction of the RCP.

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When told that everybody should come to Hazyview, all the legal teams, as well as the accused who were out on bail, refused to do so. The police also refused to take the accused who were in custody to Hazyview.

Eventually it was agreed upon that all the cases would be postponed, in absentia, until Thursday March 13.

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Last week Friday March 7, an emergency meeting was held between SANParks representatives, NPA members and Judge Segopotje Sheila Mphahlele, the judge president of Mpumalanga.

UPDATE |

The instruction by Naomi Engelbrecht, the regional court president of Mpumalanga, to transfer criminal cases, most of them in relation to rhino poaching, from the Skukuza Regional Court to Hazyview, has exploded in her face.

Lowvelder has obtained information that Judge Segopotje Sheila Mphahlele, the judge president of Mpumalanga, had already issued a directive on March 6 in which she indicated that no cases can be transferred from Skukuza to Hazyview.
“All criminal matters that have been transferred from the regional court sitting in Skukuza to Hazyview shall be transferred back,” Mphahlele wrote in the directive which Lowvelder studied.
She said these cases will be “dealt with and finalised in Skukuza.
“No matters shall be transferred from Skukuza to Hazyview, or any other court, without authorisation by this office.”
The judge president also made it clear that this instruction will remain in place until revoked or amended in writing by her office.

*This article was amended after it was published.