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SENATOR SIBUSISO AGAINST JAIL SENTENCES FOR BUSINESSPEOPLE

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LOBAMBA – If there is something that former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Senator Sibusiso Shongwe hates the most, it is the custodial sentence for businesspeople.


Asserting his firm beliefs during the tabling of the Dairy (Amendment) Bill of 1968, Shongwe said it was high time for senators to change the mentality that imposing custodial sentences to businesspeople had a positive impact.
According to Shongwe, businesspeople deserved financial liability as opposed to custodial sentences.


“We should consider that when a businessperson gets a custodial sentence, the business and the employees suffer. We should rather increase the fines to deter offenders and those who might be tempted to commit similar offences, as opposed to sending these people to jail,” Shongwe said.


Shongwe  was selling his idea to the senators after it appeared that Section 31 of the amended Bill provided that offenders who breached the Dairy laws should be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with the option to pay a E100 000 fine or both.


Under the 1968 law, offenders were fined only E100. Shongwe felt that the fine should be increased from E100 000 to deter offenders as opposed to sending them to jail.
Another amended part of the Bill was Section 16 (4), which dwelt much on dairy standards. When tabling the report, the Minister of Agriculture, Moses Vilakati, revealed that the outdated law opened the flood gates for farmers who produced and sold substandard products to the nation.


Vilakati made an example that some farmers were adding unauthorised products such as beans and water to pure milk in order to make profits. He said a research has shown that some of the products were a hazard to human health.
He said some developed countries were able to deal with the illegal activities because they had laws in place. He said the illegal activities which were taking place in the absence of the law had resulted in investors shunning the country.
Senator Moi Moi Vuka Masilela, pleaded with the Ministry of Agriculture to act swiftly if experts diagnosed something that was a threat to human health. “If this is true, it means that emaSwati have been exposed to danger for the past 50 years. Why was the ministry quiet about this?” asked Masilela.


Senator Ndumiso Mdluli pleaded with the senators to approve the Bill, which was aimed at saving the lives of the nation.
The Bill will be among the four Bills that will be dealt with by the whole House today. The other Bills are the Swaziland National Agriculture Research Authority and the adoption of the Persons with Disability Bill 19 of 2015.
The Bills were passed to the whole House after the unanimous decision from the senators.

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