MP Bacede chews warders’ ears, IPU observer watches
MBABANE – The Inter-Parliamentary Unit (IPU) observer, retired Judge Rahim Khan, yesterday witnessed a furious Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza having a go at Correctional officers in court.
Shortly after Judge Mumcy Dlamini had postponed MP Mabuza and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube’s trial during the cross-examination of Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni, the Hosea MP went off the deep end when Correctional officers interrupted him and MP Dube while consulting with their legal team.
Khan is in the country to observe the criminal trial of the incarcerated Members of Parliament (MPs), who are facing charges of terrorism and murder, among others.
The observer was present in court yesterday and on Monday.
Judge Mumcy Dlamini acknowledged the retired judge’s presence on Tuesday. Khan is accorded the status of a judge in that he is provided with a police escort and accompanied by an official from Parliament. He is expected to be in the country until next week.
On Tuesday, Khan told this publication in an interview, that he had been requested by the IPU based in Geneva, which represents Parliaments in 178 countries, to observe the MPs trial. He said the IPU represented the interests of all parliamentarians.
Earful
MP Mabuza gave the Correctional officers, who escort them to court and back to prison, an earful after they told them that it was time to leave the court. This was after Judge Mumcy Dlamini had postponed the proceedings to today. MP Mabuza angrily told the Correctional officers that he was still consulting with his legal team and that it was his right to do so, when they told him that they should be leaving.
The MPs were not happy that their matter had been postponed to this morning yet they wanted it to continue. When the judge ordered the postponement, Nkilongo MP Myeni was in the witness dock being cross-examined by Advocate Gareth Leppan. The advocate represents the Crown in the matter.
During the cross-examination, Advocate Leppan asked MP Myeni, if he had said it was Maseyisini MP Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini who suggested that the MPs should go to caucus on June 21, 2021. This was after the issue of the delivery of petitions had been brought up. MP Myeni agreed that the suggestion for a caucus had been suggested by MP Dlamini.
Advocate Leppan said what MP Myeni had said was incorrect. The advocate stated that it was in fact Lobamba Lomdzala MP
Khumalo who told the MPs that in terms of Standing Order No. 32, the issue could not be raised as a motion and that it should go to caucus. Advocate Leppan referred MP Myeni to a report of the House of Assembly of June 21, 2021, which was written in siSwati.
Advocate Jacobus Van Vuuren, who represents the MPs, raised a concern that the defence had not seen the document. Advocate Leppan was referring the witness to. He told the court that it was not in English.
“This is cross-examination. How do I consult with the witness?” asked the advocate. Judge Dlamini said the advocate should suggest how the matter should proceed.
Meaningful
Advocate Van Vuuren said MP Myeni could deal with the document but he (advocate) could not play a meaningful role. “I can’t follow. If we continue I will have to rely on someone else to tell me what it means. I didn’t see the document,” said the advocate.
Judge Dlamini said she could give him time for the document to be interpreted to him. The judge suggested an adjournment of 20 minutes. Advocate Van Vuuren suggested that MP Myeni should proceed with the cross-examination and we will take it from there’. The judge stated that the court would not proceed if he was unable to follow. “I suggest that we adjourn until tomorrow morning (today). It is a serious problem that you don’t understand the document.” Judge Dlamini ordered the registrar of the court to ensure that the document was transcribed and the matter was postponed to today. When he testified on Tuesday, MP Myeni insisted that the violence in the country started after DPM Themba Masuku, in his capacity as acting prime minister at the time, had issued a ban on petitions delivery in June last year.
The MP was responding to the allegation that he and his co-accused, MP Dube, incited members of the public to riot through the speeches they were making at the time. The charge states that MP Mabuza and MP Dube should have foreseen that there would be acts of violence as a result of their speeches.
The Nkilongo MP told the court that during the delivery of petitions, the youth would sing and dance but not vandalise or destroy property.
According to MP Myeni, acts of violence were witnessed after the acting PM had announced a ban on the physical delivery of petitions.
“We witnessed violence after the DPM had banned the delivery of petitions. It started at Siphofaneni where the people were due to deliver their petition when the ban was announced,” MP Myeni said. He also informed the court that when the acting PM issued the ban, parliamentarians had made a resolution during a caucus that the delivery of petitions should continue so that the few remaining MPs would also receive the petitions from the constituents.
Grievances
The next step, according to MP Myeni, as resolved by the MPs, was to consider the grievances or issues raised in the various petitions and to determine if the issues were similar, so that they would be dealt with accordingly.
He said they were surprised when the acting PM announced the ban on the delivery of petitions, at a time when the Speaker, Petros Mavimbela, had adjourned Parliament proceedings sine die.
“We were very shocked that the petitions delivery had been banned because Cabinet was supposed to uphold what Parliament had resolved,” said MP
Myeni. At this stage the Crown’s representative,Advocate Gareth Leppan from South Africa, applied that the matter be stood down. He said he became aware in the morning that MPs would be called to testify.
The advocate said he had discussed the issue briefly with his instructing attorney and they needed to take instructions before cross-examining MP Myeni.
Meanwhile, the Constituency Headman of Hosea, Richard Vilane told the court that as the Constituency Headman, it was his responsibility to call constituency meetings. He said even the meeting in question had been called by him.
When he was led byAdvocate Jacobus Van Vuuren, the advocate asked Vilane how the meeting came about. He said he would be honest and stated that on May 27, 2021, while bereaved, he received a call informing him that some people wanted to see him at the constituency centre. He was testifying in respect of the charge in which MP Mabuza is accused of breaching COVID-19 regulations during a constituency meeting at Hosea on June 5, 2021.