WARDERS, SHONGWE IN SITTING ARRANGEMENT ROW

MBABANE – “Your job is to provide security, not to interfere with the sitting arrangement.”

This message was directed to warders who were guarding arrested businessman Sipho Shongwe during his appearance in court yesterday. The warders were called to order by their superiors after they were seen conversing with Shongwe concerning sitting arrangements.

Requested

Shongwe called the group of about seven warders and requested that they reserve space for the people who were yet to arrive in court to give him moral support. Shongwe was seen gesturing from the accused dock while negotiating with the warders. During their conversation with Shongwe, the officers seemed to understand what Shongwe requested from them as some were seem pointing at the seats to be reserved.  As the warders conversed with Shongwe, their superior called one of the officers and asked what the conversation was about. In response, the officer told his superior that Shongwe was requesting that they reserve some space for his relatives who were yet to arrive in court. “You have not been assigned to usher people here. Your job is to provide security. Once you are seen ushering people in this court, you will answer for your actions somewhere,” said the senior officer. The warder relayed the message to his colleagues. Shongwe then sat quietly inside the accused dock until he was greeted by his defence counsel Lucky Howe.

Jokingly

Shongwe seemed to have no problem with photographers taking pictures of him. He jokingly asked the reporters why they put poor quality pictures in the newspaper because they had time to photograph him. However, when he recognised the face of a Times of Swaziland photographer, Shongwe said “Yeyi, msuseni lona  akahambe  lana (Please remove this one, he must leave this place).” Noted was that Shongwe was calm when he made the request in jest. This was shortly before the arrival of his wife Vuyiswa, who was in the company of her relatives. When the matter was adjourned, she hastily went to her car which was parked a few metres away from the High Court steps.

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