PMS: WHY GRANT SOME MURDER SUSPECTS BAIL?

LOBAMBA– The country’s Judiciary was yesterday put in the spotlight by Members of Parliament (MPs).

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Pholile Shakantu was called to provide answers on why some murder accused persons were granted bail and got to roam the streets a few days after committing the crimes. This happened during a question and answer session where Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo asked the minister to inform the House about the judicial progress on a matter he once raised regarding an incident where former Lobamba High School Head teacher Vezamafa Mhlanga was allegedly killed by a relative. MP Khumalo submitted that the deceased was killed almost 20 years ago but that to this day the case was pending and seemingly left to die a natural death whilst his family remained under threat from the suspect.

Family

The Lobamba Lomdzala MP mentioned that the matter was concluded without the satisfaction of the family of the deceased. “The family of the deceased has been to the ministry and it was resolved that everything should be started afresh so that fresh investigations can be conducted. We encourage the police to speed up the process,” said Khumalo. MP Princess Phumelele thanked Khumalo for raising the issue and said it was clear that dirty tricks were at play. The princess argued that it was ludicrous that for 20 years no one had been arrested for the crime. “It appears that the offender did this on purpose. After committing the offence, he went to the police station to report that he had killed someone. He did not spend even a month in custody and was out.  It is like there was an agreement reached between him and the police,” submitted the princess.

Happy

Nkhaba MP Zakhele Magongo stood up and asked the minister to tell the House if she was still happy with the judiciary in the country. He made an example saying a certain individual who allegedly killed someone in Mbabane recently was granted bail within a few days while there were two MPs who had not been granted bail.  Even though he did not name them, it is a fact that two MPs, Bacede Mabuza of Hosea and Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi are currently in custody having been arrested in July this year.

Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni also joined the call to have the minister tell the House if she was happy with the judiciary. Myeni said it was obvious that the Judiciary was selective. In vernacular he said, “Inemehlo”. Also posing a question to the minister was Motshane MP Robert Magongo who asked the number of judges in the country and cases they handled per month. Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane also asked if the minister was happy with the way things were done in as far as arrests and convictions were concerned. “We have people like the two MPs who are still in custody but there are those who took guns at police stations and used them to kill people but today they are roaming the streets,” submitted the Nhlambeni MP.

Meanwhile KuMethula MP asked to know if the investigations and eventual findings would be factual since the murder took place several years ago. He wondered what would happen since some key witnesses might not be alive anymore.  The KuMethula MP also asked how many years the suspect, if convicted, will serve in jail since the incident happened close to 20 years ago.

Misleading

After the MPs had posed their questions, MP Khumalo rose again and said the minister should admit that the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) never applied itself in the matter. According to MP Khumalo, the DPP’s Office accepted misleading information that was untrue.  He asked the minister if it was true that the deceased’s children could no longer visited their father’s homestead in the Shiselweni Region as the accused allegedly threatened to deal with them the way he did their father. MP Khumalo also asked if the minister had enquired from the national police commissioner on the matter before attending the sitting yesterday.

“I am asking this question because the matter was in the notice paper so the minister should by now have spoken to the police in order to respond properly to our questions,” said MP Khumalo. Mtsambama MP said if the minister was happy with the Judiciary, she must state how far and if not, she should tell the House what she planned to do.

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