Times Of Swaziland: NO CHANCE TO ADDRESS SUPPORTERS FOR MABUZA, DUBE NO CHANCE TO ADDRESS SUPPORTERS FOR MABUZA, DUBE ================================================================================ BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE AND KWANELE DLAMINI on 30/07/2021 09:08:00 MBABANE - The only thing they could do was wave at their supporters in court yesterday. Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and his Ngwempisi counterpart, Mthandeni Dube, yesterday did not have a chance to address the people who had come to give them moral support. The officers from Correctional Services, who had escorted them to court, only allowed them to talk to their close relatives and legal team. When they left the courtroom after the judgment on their bail application was postponed, they were seen waving at those who were in the public gallery before they were whisked away by the armed warders. Before the commencement of the court proceedings, a senior police officer requested to talk to journalists about the MPs’ address to their supporters in court, which he referred to as a press conference. He said there was an issue about the ‘press conference’ when the accused persons first appeared in court as that was not allowed. Incarcerated He told the journalists that the officers who had brought the accused persons to court were not supposed to allow them to address the people as they were incarcerated. During their first appearance, Mabuza and Dube both addressed their supporters in court during an adjournment while the court awaited the arrival of Advocate Mduduzi ‘Tsotsi’ Mabila. First to address the gathering was Mabuza who said they would continue with the call for an elected prime minister despite their arrest. “We are not backing down. We want democracy for emaSwati. On Wednesday, I intend to move a motion in Parliament. We were arrested because they are trying to prevent us from moving the motion. I have told the police that we are fighting for their children as well. We are not fighting for ourselves but for the next generation. I, Bacede, will not back down,” Mabuza said. MP Dube said they would not give up the fight for change. He said they knew from the start that getting arrested was one of the hurdles they had to encounter. “Don’t despair, we will win this one. Our goal is to achieve economic freedom for all emaSwati and we must elect our own prime minister.”