SIBUSISO’S POSITION OF SENATOR ON THE LINE?

Sibusiso Shongwe leaves the court after being denied bail. (File Pic)

MBABANE –The continued incarceration of former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Sibusiso Shongwe at Sidwashini Correctional Services may put his job as a senator on the line.

Shongwe may be disqualified from being a senator on the basis of Section 98 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland, which declares a seat of a senator vacant if he is absent from 20 sittings of the chamber.
He was denied bail by the High Court on the basis of the prosecution’s fears that he could be a flight risk and would interfere with crown witnesses. His co-accused persons in Justice Jacobus Annandale, Justice Mpendulo Simelane and High Court Registrar Fikile Nhlabatsi were admitted to bail.

Last week, Supreme Court Registrar Lorraine Hlophe issued a notice postponing this month’s sitting of the country’s supreme court and this spelt doom to any prospect of Shongwe appealing Judge Qinisile Mabuza’s order.
Today marks Senator Shongwe’s 14th day behind bars.
Meanwhile, Senate is in recess to allow the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to wind up its job.

Shongwe has been charged with two counts; one of refusing to divulge information to the ACC about money deposited into his law firm’s account and also the alleged theft of a file at the High Court. He was charged with contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act. His law firm, Sibusiso B. Shongwe Attorneys, allegedly received E2m from South Africa and he refused to disclose the source of the money. In court, the senator said the money came from a South African company which is the parent company of Impunzi Wholesalers for the payment of Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) dues.

A sum of E950 000 of the said money was indeed transferred to SRA. Reads Section 98 of the Constitution: “The seat of a Senator or of a member of the House shall become vacant where (c) the holder is absent from 20 sittings of the chamber during any meeting of that chamber without the permission in writing of the presiding officer and is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges.”
In an interview, Gelane Zwane, the Senate President, said the fate of Senator Shongwe, ‘for starters’ was different in that he neither absented himself at his will or on his own volition nor absconded sittings deliberately. She said his incarceration was legitimised in law and there was nothing he could do to attend the senate sittings.

Secondly, the president of Senate said Senator Shongwe was appointed into the Upper Chamber by His Majesty the King. She said there was no decision on the fate of the senator’s membership that could be taken by her in her capacity as presiding officer. Making an example, Zwane said under normal circumstances, she could seek audience with the appointing authority over a case of a senator who decided to absent himself from work without her written permission or report a case of an elected senator to the House of Assembly.

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