Times Of Swaziland: ‘I FOUND E200 000 DAGGA UNDER TREE’

‘I FOUND E200 000 DAGGA UNDER TREE’
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Joseph Zulu on 16/01/2020 08:15:00


PIGG’S PEAK – It may sound too good to be true but a man arrested for
possession of dagga claimed it was freely available in his area and that he
found it under a tree.
Mxolisi Tsabedze was arrested for possession of dagga weighing 61.22 kilogrammes
and appeared before Magistrate Sakhele Hlophe. With the right market, this
amount of dagga can fetch over E200 000. Mxolisi was asked how much he paid for
the dagga but he said he got it for free as he found it under a tree around a
place known as Mgungundlovu under Ndzingeni.
Guilty
He pleaded guilty to the charge but told the magistrate that he picked it up
from under a tree where it appeared to have been dumped. The magistrate,
however, did not buy this version but said such was ‘too good to be true’.
“People kill over dagga and you say you picked it up just like that?”
wondered the magistrate. Mxolisi insisted that he picked it up because he was
interested in its seeds, which he intended to grow. Police officer Detective
Constable Fundiso Shongwe, who was the lead investigator in the matter, said
Tsabedze was found with the dagga at his homestead. Shongwe said he raided the
homestead together with other police officers.
He said he asked Tsabedze if he had a permit for it but he failed to produce
one. Shongwe said he then charged Tsabedze and also weighed the dagga. Since
Tsabedze pleaded guilty to the charge, he was found guilty and sentenced to four
years behind bars or to pay a fine of E8 000. Another individual also appeared
in court for dagga possession alongside his wife. Khethusizi Tsabedze and Tenele
Khumalo were arrested for being found with 1.365 kilogrammes of dagga. Khumalo
pleaded not guilty to the charge but Khethusizi pleaded guilty. She was
discharged from the matter but Khethusizi later told the magistrate he had the
dagga in his possession because he intended to sell it.