WHAT RULE OF LAW? - SWAZI KING

If you have any doubts that Swaziland’s King Mswati III doesn’t know the first thing about the rule of law read on.

The king, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, says he is unhappy at the high number of suspects who are being acquitted by the Swazi courts.

He seems to believe that anyone who goes before the courts is guilty.The king who consistently ignores the kingdom’s constitution in matters of human rights and civil liberties and who appointed Barnabas Dlamini prime minister and half the government in contravention of the constitution, says there are times when ‘acquitted persons showed no remorse for what they had allegedly done’.

That’s the point. They had allegedly done something but when the case came to court they were found to be utterly innocent.

The king was speaking during the Correctional Services pass out parade and Correctional Services Day held at Matsapha after Mario Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Party (PUDEMO) was acquitted of a terrorism charge, five hours into a High Court case that was expected to last several days.

The judge threw out the case saying there was no credible evidence offered by the prosecution. Judge Mbutfo Mamba called the prosecution’s case hopeless.King Mswati said it was clear that there were problems with the country’s justice system and called upon all judicial agencies to strengthen their operations to ensure that suspects were convicted.

The king said as this situation persists, it could be necessary that stiffer laws be put in place to guard against such occurrences.

SWAZI GOVERNMENT CASE 'HOPELESS'

Some of the mystery surrounding the reason for the acquittal of Mario Masuku on a terrorism charge has been lifted.

Mbutfo Mamba, the High Court Judge who halted the trial only five hours into a trial that was expected to last several days, says the prosecution’s case was ‘hopeless’.

In his formal ruling he said that the prosecution claimed that Masuku, the President of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), contravened the Suppression of Terrorism Act when after a failed bomb attempt he told a funeral gathering ‘they will continue with the bombings’.

The judge said the prosecution failed to make clear who the ‘they’ referred to in the statement were.

Put simply, the prosecution failed to provide evidence that the words Masuku used were actually an incitement to anyone.

The judge’s ruling adds to the humiliation heaped on to the Swazi Government when the case was halted last month (September 2009). The High Court was faced with incoherent statements by witnesses and what even the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, called ‘a series of dramatic errors.’

The Swaziland Director of Public Prosecutions Mumcy Dlamini was particularly at fault in presenting a dire case.

In his ruling Judge Mamba gave the government a lesson in English grammar on the wording of the indictment.

‘It is, unfortunately, not a model of clarity. It offends against one of the primary rules of English grammar. It uses the pronoun “they” without any first reference to the object to which it refers. In short, it does not explain who is referred to as “they” – the persons who will continue with the bombing of the government vital structures and installations.’

He went on, ‘[Witness 4] did say in his testimony in re-examination that the accused used the words “we shall continue the bombing” of government structures. This was, however, clearly an afterthought and a desperate attempt to mitigate or ameliorate the hopelessness of the evidence by the Crown.

‘All the three crown witnesses testified that the accused called the deceased a hero. His heroics or heroic deeds were not spelt out or stated. The matter would certainly have been much different had the accused said he was a hero for bombing government structures. There is no evidence that he said so.’

So, humiliation heaped upon humiliation for the Swazi Government. We can all have a good laugh, but we can’t be complacent. The Swazi Government may be stupid, but my God it’s still dangerous.

For more details of the ruling click here.

WELCOME FOR MASUKU RELEASE

THE SWAZILAND SOLIDARITY NETWORK [SSN] STATEMENT ON THE ACQUITTAL OF PUDEMO PRESIDENT
COMRADE MARIO MASUKU

22 September 2009

The Swaziland Solidarity Network welcomes the acquittal of the PUDEMO President Comrade Mario Masuku from fictitious charges of terrorism.

SSN never doubted the innocence of the people’s President against these allegations made by a desperate regime. His only crime was to call for democratisation of Swaziland, a legitimate demand which we fully support. We salute the president for sacrificing in raising the revolutionary banner and inspiring the people of Swaziland towards a battle for freedom.

During his incarceration, the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] staged 37 demonstrations since his arrest and we wish to reaffirm our ongoing support to the people of Swaziland led by the People’s United Democratic Movement PUDEMO in their quest for democratisation. We stand by our demands that we have been submitting to King Mswati through the Swazi Consulate that:

The Swazi regime should stop all forms of repression against political
dissent and opposition parties

The monarch should abolish all indiscriminate detention of activists

The South African internationalist Amoss Mbendzi should be unconditionally and immediately released from jail

A democratically constituent assembly should be elected to develop a
new constitution for a new constitutional Multi-party democracy

The draconian 1973 decree which bans political parties and all forms of
legitimate political activity should be removed

All Swazi exiles should unconditionally return back to their
country

Meanwhile the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] will be commemorating our departed martyrs comrade Advocate Musa Dlamini aka “MJ” and comrade Jack Govender aka Sipho Khumalo “MK” allies, the commemoration will be on the 26th September 2009 at COSATU House Braamfontein 10h00.

Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South Africa.

FREE SWAZI CAMPAIGN INTENSIFIES

The campaign for a free Swaziland is to intensify following the collapse of the trial of Mario Masuku, the president of the banned People’ United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO).

Masuku's trial on a terrorism charge was dramatically halted by High Court Judge Mbutfo Mamba after only five hours on Monday (21 September 2009).

Judge Mamba said the prosecution headed by Swaziland’s Director of Public Prosecutions Mumcy Dlamini presented ‘poor quality of evidence’.

The Joint Swazi Action Campaign Committee called the acquittal a ‘clear victory for the courageous and heroic masses of Swaziland and the world community of freedom fighters and patriots globally’.

In a statement it called for ‘maximum intensification of the struggle’ for freedom in Swaziland.

‘We shall be releasing a determined and sustainable programme of action that demands nothing less than the liberation of the Swazi people and full affirmation of their dignity as a people and not royal subjects and objects of pity.’

The Joint Swazi Action Campaign Committee is to organise a special session with all progressive Swazi forces to tie down an action programme for the next year and beyond.

‘We shall continue to march, picket, expose and isolate [King] Mswati [III] and his cronies. We shall continue to target members of the royal family, wherever they happen to be and ensure that their lives are as miserable and unbearable as those they daily subject the Swazi people to.

‘No member of the royal family must be allowed to study, work or enjoy luxuries anywhere in South Africa or elsewhere.‘We are also working on a programme for the institutionalisation of a serious boycott campaign against the regime, because only by hitting it where it matters the most shall we force it down on its knees. This means hitting the economy that sustains the brutal regime and oil the wheels of oppression, whilst cushioning the greedy appetite of royal extravagance.

It said, ‘We wish to salute Comrade Mario, members of PUDEMO and SWAYOCO [Swaziland Youth Congress], the trade union movement of Swaziland and the whole of Swazi civil society organised under the auspices of the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) for their resolute struggles and determination to fight on despite the terrifying conditions in the country.’It also praised ‘the world community’ for supporting the Swazi people’s cause.

SWAZI STATE STANDS HUMILIATED

The Swazi state stands humiliated today as its attempt to jail Swaziland’s most prominent democrat leader Mario Masuku was foiled by a judge only hours after his trail started.

Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), had been in jail on remand for 10 months since November 2008 after his arrest for allegedly making statements at a May Day rally to incite people to terrorism.

The state’s evidence against Masuku was so poor that the trial that was expected to last several days lasted no more than five hours.

High Court Judge Mbutfo Mamba halted the trial after being presented with ‘poor quality of evidence’ by the prosecution led by Swaziland’s Director of Public Prosecutions Mumcy Dlamini.

The High Court was faced with incoherent statements by witnesses and what even the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, called ‘a series of dramatic errors’.

According to the Observer, five witnesses had presented their evidence before Judge Mamba halted the trial, including police superintendent Mike Zwane, the officer in charge of investigating Masuku.

Evidence brought to the court by the first witness Sithembiso Shongwe was dismissed because it was irrelevant.

Judge Mamba ruled that the evidence was inadmissible because Shongwe kept telling the court about activities planned by PUDEMO in meetings that were held in South Africa.

It turned out that Shongwe was himself in custody on an undisclosed charge and was escorted from the court in leg irons after he gave his evidence. Shongwe claimed to have been trained by the PUDEMO military wing, Umbane. He said Umbane’s main objectives were to engage in guerrilla warfare so that the government could be forced to the negotiating table and allow democracy in Swaziland

The case descended into farce when one witness, owing to poor sight, spent about two minutes trying to spot Mario Masuku in court.

The Times of Swaziland reported Kwanele Dlamini, from Siteki, was asked to identify Masuku from the people in court and requested to move out of the witness stand to try and spot him. Dlamini then went around the court room, looking and inspecting at all the people who were present in court, trying to find Masuku. He was even misled by some of the people in court by jeering and shouting that he was not present, but the determined Dlamini looked at almost everyone before spotting Masuku seated at the accused dock.

During cross examination, according to the Observer, another witness Banele Dlamini made jumbled statements and kept on contradicting himself during cross examination. When advocate Norman Kades asked probing questions on Masuku’s utterances, he said he could not possibly remember everything because the accused had made a long speech.

Advocate Kades observed that the witnesses had conveniently remembered aspects about Masuku’s utterances on terrorism which would seem to favour the interests of the crown. Mbambiseni Maseko who was also brought before the court as a witness also contradicted himself.

Masuku had been charged with contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA) after he uttered statements to the effect that PUDEMO would continue with the bombing of vital government structures in Swaziland last year at the funeral of the late Musa Dlamini who was killed during a bomb blast at Lozitha bridge.

The state, uncertain it could force a conviction under the STA had an alternative charge under the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act of 1938.