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NO SECURITY FOR JUSTICE MINISTER

26/10/2014 05:58:00 BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE

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MATSAPHA – Sibusiso Shongwe, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, has been attending public functions without police security.

Under normal circumstances, a police officer is supposed to stand behind the minister during public functions but his has not been the case at most functions where the controversial minister was invited to be a guest speaker.
Yesterday, at the Matsapha Correctional Services where the minister was a guest speaker during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Swaziland Association for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (SACRO), he stood alone.

Addressing the audience, the minister said even he felt snubbed by senior officers in his ministry and other departments. He said he had expected senior officers of His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) to be present. He pointed to the fact that Correctional Services’ superiors snubbed an AGM hosted by its stakeholder in premises of the HMCS.

Shongwe said their absence was really conspicuous – a big cause for concern. He charged that officials in his ministry should have been by his side, but chose to snub the event for reasons they had failed to communicate.
The minister attended the Correctional Services meeting with only his personal assistant. He said all the senior officials in his ministry and departments did not come.

Among the 15 people who attended the meeting were the board of directors of SACRO, including High Court Judge Jacobus Annandale, Senior Manzini Magistrate Joe Gumedze, Frank Hurube, a representative of the police national commissioner, Chamie Dludlu, a representative of the HMCS commissioner-general, Veli Ndzinisa, the board chairman and attorney, Desmond Maphanga, the Executive Director and Khetsiwe Myeni. “What’s wrong with this ministry?” Shongwe asked.

“Have I come to the wrong meeting? There’s something wrong with the ministry. What is the problem so that we can solve it now?”
He lashed out at his ministry’s administrators, attorneys, prosecutors, magistrates and other professionals whom he was of the opinion that they should have attended SACRO’s AGM. “They should be here with me,” he said.
Shongwe’s pertinent question at this point was whether there was growing tension between SACRO and HMCS. “Is there a duplication of duties between SACRO and Correctional Services? Why is SACRO being given a subvention if there is a duplication of duties?”

He further asked the audience: “Has any minister of justice ever attended your AGM since SACRO was established in 1989?”
The audience responded at once: “No minister has ever attended our AGM.”
He smiled at their response. “You see,” he said, as if this had proved his point.

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs said he was too exhausted to read his eight-page speech and asked the media to publish it as is.
He said he thought he would find people who needed repentance at the AGM only to be met by converts.
“I can’t read my speech because you are all converts. The media will just publish it as it is. I thought I would see people who needed repentance, but none of you need it because you are like pastors. You can even rule me out of order because you are really knowledgeable about what is contained in my speech.”

Assistant Superintendent Khulani Mamba, Police Deputy Information and Communications Officer, said the Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) had not snubbed the minister.

Mamba said the police should be notified of official events which the minister had been invited to be the guest speaker. He further said the police were not aware of yesterday’s function. “If the minister attends a function in, say, Siteki and we are notified about it, we would then delegate police in Siteki to provide him with security. We have not snubbed the minister,” he said.

He advised the minister to use the relevant structures to communicate with the police to avoid feeling as if he was snubbed. “We want to assure the minister that we have not snubbed him,” he said. He said the police could attend any function uninvited if there was a need for security.