JUDICIAL CRISIS SOS

At this stage of their trial, Members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza (Hosea) and Mthandeni Dube (Ngwempisi) should realise that any more attempts to get bail are an exercise in futility, and instead ride it out to the completion of their trial and possible conviction because their failed multiple attempts to get bail is conclusive of the fate that awaits them – guilty as charged.

And contrary to Attorney General Sifiso Khumalo and government’s contention, this is a political trial and political persecution of the lawmakers for daring to challenge the status quo, which in turn makes them political prisoners. The problem with Eswatini polity, indeed the political establishment, is that it is constructed on a foundation of lies, which are peddled with reckless abandon by those charged with the onerous task of leading the kingdom.

Swallowed

Ironically, this extends to men and women of the cloth who have been swallowed by the Tinkhundla political behemoth and now can neither distinguish between right and wrong nor between good and evil. By and large it is the lies that have plunged this country into the political and socio-economic mess that it is in. Consequently, those who stand for and speak the truth to power are perceived and treated as enemies of the State. Government and the leadership need not be reminded that MPs Mabuza and Dube would not be on trial if it were not for the leadership’s unwise and ill-conceived decision to stop and ban constituents from delivering petitions demanding political change at the respective tinkhundla centres.

It would be desirous – if not a must – that in a new political dispensation, which the massive expenditure on weapons and systemic elimination and persecution of proponents of multi-party democracy would not stop its dawn, these matters be revisited so that those responsible for abusing their power are prosecuted to the limit of the law. Yes, there is a lot of political thuggery that has and continues to be committed against the people, and the State that has and is progressively undermining progress and the wholesome development and economic empowerment of the people. But that is a matter to be attended to in the not too distant future.

Opinion

Although I am not well versed on matters of jurisprudence, but I can safely offer an opinion that the two legislators, besides being the first to be on trial for exercising the mandate for which they were elected, have already set legal precedence on two fronts. Their numerous attempts, without success, at regaining freedom before and while their trial proceeded is probably second to none. Murderers are routinely freed on bail by the same courts without as much as scrutinising and questioning sentence construction, uncrossed T’s and undotted I’s of their court papers, let alone the need for engaging senior counsel for the purpose.

An urgent application to appeal their unsuccessful attempts to be freed on bail also took something like three months, not necessarily of their making, but as a consequence of the apparently flawed, if not highly politically polarised administration of justice in the land of the Kingdom of Eswatini. By the time the matter was heard and a determination on its merits made, it had long ceased to be urgent, possibly another judicial first. A bizarre occurrence in this matter was when Judge Jacobus  Annandale pleaded for prayer in order to arrive at a fitting and suitable judgment of the appeal mounted by the two politicians in the Supreme Court.

After having reserved judgment, Judge Annandale, sitting with Judge Sabelo Matsebula and Acting Judge Judith Currie, was quoted to have made an impassioned plea to those attending the hearing: “I see a lot of nice people up there (public gallery). That’s all I see. I ask you to go on your knees and pray to the Lord for the court to come up with a proper judgment in terms of the law. I guarantee that there is no motive for us to do something that’s not proper. Ask for the will of the Lord for us to do what is proper. May the Lord be with you until we return.”

Intervention

That is something that does not happen in court every day, a judge pleading for divine intervention and guidance in arriving at a fitting and suitable judgment! Was this a plaintive cry that people should not blame them for anything that happens? Was that an SOS for a Judiciary in crisis? It is common knowledge that the Judiciary, right now, is in shambles and a political playground for those wielding political power. Judge Annandale’s plaintive cry for divine intervention could have been motivated by the dark phase he experienced when he was snared in a web of the machinations of former Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi, leading to his arrest and treatment like a common criminal. Surely that must have been a traumatic and haunting experience for him that he will most probably relive for the rest of his life and one that he would do anything to ensure it never happens again.   

As I see it, the failed multiple attempts to get bail are indicative that chances of acquittal for the two MPs are next to zilch. The trial itself does not inspire any confidence that government and the leadership are committed to any dialogue whatsoever.  Hence this country is generally on auto pilot, if the random arson attacks on supporters of either side of the huge political divide are anything to go by, while the future remains uncertain.

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