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MBABANE – The Members of Parliament (MPs), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, said in all the video clips played in court, nowhere did they say anything which could remotely be construed as an act of riot.
This was one of the MPs’ submissions in their application to be acquitted and discharged. Judge Mumcy Dlamini dismissed their application.
When the MPs addressed the order to ban the delivery of petitions at tinkhundla centres last year, they said the Crown submitted that the banning order was lawful.
They attacked the banning order on the ground that it did not give the prime minister any powers to stop the delivery of petitions. They argued that the citizens had a right to freedom of speech and to gather as per Section 24 and 25 of the Constitution.
They told the court that the COVID-19 regulations at the time determined the number of people attending gatherings. They said should the prime minister or government wish to stop the delivery of petitions, it should have issued a directive in terms of the Disaster Management Act after certain processes had been complied with.
The MPs also submitted that the Crown failed prove the above submission. They said government never took a decision to ban the delivery of petitions, ‘so contended defence in their written submissions’.
Evidence
The evidence of former Acting Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli, according to the MPs, should have been rejected. Mdluli had repeated what was in the statement delivered by former Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku. They also argued that Cabinet ought to have consulted the National Disaster Management Council if it intended to issue a ban.”The prosecution failed to lead such evidence. The acting prime minister ought to have been called to lead evidence on the process it followed before issuing the ban
“No evidence was adduced to show that the ban was a collective Cabinet decision,” argued the MPs regarding the charge under the Suppression of
Terrorism Act. Concerning the two charges of murder, MPs Mabuza and Dube told the court that the evidence of the driver of the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund (SMVA) motor vehicle, which ran over a group of people at Nkwalini, Mbabane, last year during the political reforms riots, was the person who caused the death of the two men.
“The Crown ought to have proved that the accused persons physically and psychologically contributed to the consequences in question. The Crown’s submission that the accused persons should have foreseen the death of the deceased is farfetched. There is no evidence linking the death of the deceased with the accused persons,” the MPs submitted.
In the charge faced by MP Mabuza, of contravening COVID-19 regulations at Hosea, the defence argued that the MP did not convene the community.
“Therefore, it was not accused’s duty or obligation to keep a register of the attendants or sanitise them. Accused 1 (MP Mabuza) was invited to address the meeting. PW39 came late, when