PPA LEADERS SUSPECTED TO BE ARCHITECTS OF CONTROVERSIAL BANNER - POLICE

MBABANE - The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) has revealed why the four members of the civil and political organisations are now people of interest to them.

According to the police, the quartet is suspected to have been the architects of the banner with inscription calling for the fall of the country’s authorities and introduction of multiparty in the Kingdom of Eswatini. This is the banner which was displayed during a recent march by members of the Political Party Assembly (PPA) in Mbabane. The exact wording of the banner cannot be repeated as it is suspected to be of seditious nature. According to the law enforcers, they received information from their (police) Intelligence Department that the homesteads or residences of the four were places where suspected explosives, seditious documents and information were being kept.

The four who are being investigated by the police are Sibongile Mazibuko, Musa Nkambule, Jan Sithole and Wandile Dludlu. Mazibuko is the leader of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) while Nkambule is the Chairman of Sibahle Sinje National Movement. Also, Dludlu is the General Secretary of the proscribed People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and Sithole is the President of the Swazi Democratic Party (SWADEPA). They all belong to the PPA, which is an association formed by different political, civil and human rights groups.

Challenging

However, they each approached the court in their personal capacities as they recently filed an urgent application challenging the constitutionality and lawfulness of the warrants of search and seizure. These warrants saw a contingent of police officers descending at their various homesteads where they conducted raids with the hope of finding incriminating material. The police took a number of the leaders belongings which mostly consisted of electronic gadgets and documents. Judge Nkosinathi Maseko, who heard the application, found that it would not be proper to allow the police to act on the strength of the warrants while the matter was still pending in court. 

The applicants are seeking an order declaring to be unlawful and setting aside the search warrants that were issued against them dated November 25 and December 19, 2019. During the argument of the matter, Assistant Attorney General Mbuso Simelane, informed the court that criminal investigations against the quartet were 95 per cent complete. Meanwhile, in his answering affidavit, Deputy National Commissioner of Police, Sam Mthembeni Mthembu, denied that the search and seizure warrants against the applicants were unlawful and unconstitutional.

He averred that the items that were seized from the applicants were taken to the respective magistrates who issued the warrants. Mthembu alleged that the magistrates then ordered that the items should be detained for purposes of assisting the police in furthering their investigations to the suspected acts of alleged sedition by the applicants. “I have been advised by the officers who executed the search warrants that none of the applicants challenged the warrants,” contended the senior police officer. According to the deputy commissioner of police, the searches and seizures were conducted on a reasonable ground of suspecting that there was upon the premises of the applicants anything to which there were reasonable grounds for believing that it would afford evidence as to the commission of the offence or anything intended to be used for the purposes of committing the offence.

Warrants

He also told the court that the application to set aside the search warrants was academic as the search had been conducted. “I deny that the applicant’s right to privacy has been unlawfully infringed upon. On contrary, the issue and execution of a search and seizure involves a statutorily authorised invasion and taking by the State of private property,” averred Mthembu.
Mthembu further submitted that there were remedies for any party aggrieved by the issuance of a warrant, which is to institute judicial review proceedings for an order to quash or set aside the warrants. The matter is still pending in court and it will be argued on Wednesday. The State is represented by Assistant Attorney General Mbuso Simelane and Principal Crown Counsel Bheki Tsabedze while appearing for the applicants is renowned Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko.

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