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SENATOR ASKS FOR POSTPONEMENT AS LAWYER NO-SHOW

09/08/2017 08:38:00 BY KWANELE DLAMINI

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MBABANE – Has Senator Sibusiso Shongwe’s attorney turned his back on him at the eleventh hour?

Senator Shongwe instructed Mzwandile Dlamini of MS Dlamini Legal to represent him in his corruption trial, which was scheduled to begin yesterday.
However, Dlamini was nowhere in court when the matter was called. Vusi Thomo of Sibusiso B. Shongwe and Associates, who appeared on behalf of the former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, informed the court that Shongwe was facing a very unfortunate situation.

This was shortly after the matter had been called when the parties had been to Judge Mbutfo Mamba’s chambers to formally introduce Advocate Gareth Leppan, who has been instructed by government.
Thomo rose up to tell the court that they had not been able to locate Dlamini since last week despite that he was the instructed attorney.
Dlamini recently took Impunzi Wholesalers to court over non-payment of legal fees after he represented the company in its matter against the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA).
Shongwe, who is facing 10 counts of fraud and contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2006 among others, sat quietly in the accused dock as Thomo made his submissions.

He said it was their hope that Dlamini would be present in court more so because there were applications which he had been instructed to move.
He told the court that Dlamini has not been answering their calls since Friday.
“The situation we are facing is very unfortunate and regrettable,” said Thomo.
He said Dlamini represented Shongwe during his bail application after his arrest in April 2015 and was present during Shongwe’s pre-trial conference.

Thomo said Dlamini was aware of the dates and he had been made aware of the June postponement of the matter to yesterday.
The matter was scheduled to begin on June 19 but the judge was not available. The matter was then postponed to yesterday.
According to Thomo, it was not Shongwe’s fault that Dlamini was not in court. Thomo applied for a postponement of the matter to the next session of the court in order for Shongwe to instruct an attorney and prepare for the trial. He said Shongwe required ample time to prepare and instruct an attorney.