Mario sues govt e3.5m

MBABANE – Political activist Mario Masuku is suing government E3.5 million for damages suffered during his arrest.

Masuku, through his lawyer Thulani Maseko alleges that as a result of his arrest in 2008, he suffered emotional stress and suffering, among others and wants the said amount.

The defendant in the matter is the Attorney General and summons have been issued to him through the High Court.
Government is yet to file its responding papers and the allegations are yet to be put to test and verified in court once the matter reaches arguments stage.

Government is expected to respond within 21 days from the date it was taken there which is last Friday.
In his particulars of claim, he says the Attorney General (defendant in the matter) wrongfully and maliciously laid false charges of terrorism and alternatively sedition and subversion in terms of the Suppression of Terrorism Act No.3 of 2008.
The AG’s office is said to have worked in concert with the Royal Swaziland Police and arrested Masuku while at his home in Eveni.

It is alleged that the arrest was based on false information that Masuku had a made a statement that he, together with others would continue bombing government structures and thereby committing ban offence under the aforementioned legislation.
He is alleged to have made these statements Ka-Langa in Siteki on September 27, 2008.

The AG’s office is alleged not to have had reasonable or probable cause for laying charges against Masuku. “As a result the defendant’s conduct, the plaintiff (Masuku) was arrested and held in custody at the Matsapha Correctional Institution for about 338 days until he was prosecuted for supporting terrorism and making a seditious statement in the High Court of Swaziland at Mbabane and duly acquitted on September, 2009,” reads part of Masuku’s court papers. He now wants government to pay his damages suffered during the arrest.

...Wandile Dludlu also wants E800 000

MBABANE – Youth political activist Wandile Dludlu is also demanding E800 000 from government in damages suffered during his alleged assault.

The assault was allegedly done by police officers and those from the correctional service on separate incidents.
Defendants in the matter are the Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner of His Majesty’s Correctional Services and the Attorney General.
Government is yet to file its responding papers and the allegations are yet to be put to test and verified in court once the matter reaches arguments stage.

Through his lawyer Thulani Maseko, Dludlu alleged that on September 4, 2009 at Oshoek border gate, he was abducted by police officers upon his entry into Swaziland from the Republic of South Africa.

The police are said to have driven with Dludlu along the Mhlambanyatsi/Bhunya public road, branching off on a dead end road into the forests where they are alleged to have unlawfully assaulted him. They are alleged to have physically hit him with fists, kicked him all over the body, suffocated him with a plastic tube and tied his hands on his back.
“The assault, torture and abuse continued until the plaintiff (Dludlu) was bleeding through his nose and became unconscious,” it alleges in part of his papers.
At round 1900hours, the police are alleged to have dumped Dludlu by the roadside near the Magistrate’s Court in Mbabane.

“During the assault, torture and abuse, allegations were made that the plaintiff had knowledge of arms of war and explosives belonging the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), which had been listed under the newly enacted Suppression of Terrorism Act No.3 of 2008,” Dludlu’s papers read in part.

On the second claim, Dludlu alleges that on September 21, 2009 at or near Matsapha Correctional Institution, he was assaulted by members of His Majesty’s Correctional Services together with the police.
Dludlu was part of a crowd that had gathered and assembled peacefully outside the prison gate to welcome Mario Masuku, who had been acquitted of charges of terrorism and alternatively sedition.