KaLiba scuffle: Was CPS member in police custody?
NHLANGANO – Come Tuesday, investigating officers in the case of Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) member, Mvuselelo Mkhabela (21), will have to prove how he escaped from the lawful custody of the police.
Mkhabela is the man who was engaged in a scuffle with a police officer at KaLiba and was shot in the lower part of his leg. This was during the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) civic and voter education exercise at the chiefdom.
He was arrested last week and was remanded in custody until yesterday, as the court was waiting for a directive from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) regarding the appropriate jurisdiction of the matter - whether the trial should continue in Nhlangano or at the High Court.
It is worth noting that Mkhabela is now facing eight counts after the one for obstructing police officers who were executing their duties was added to the seven others. The seven other counts include four of common assault, as he is alleged to have assaulted four police officers. He is also facing one of malicious injury to property, in that on the same day he allegedly damaged a white double cab Isuzu motor vehicle registered GSD 243 PO valued at E501 802.70. The property, according to the charge sheet, belongs to Eswatini Government and was in the lawful possession of 5041 Detective Constable Mfanakathina Ngwenya, who was executing his duties at KaLiba.
Mkhabela was further charged for contravening the Crimes Act No:6 of 1889, as he was said to have been found with a dangerous weapon identified to be a knife when he was arrested on April 15, 2023 around Matsapha, in the Manzini Region.
The last count is that of allegedly escaping from Hlatikhulu Government Hospital, while he, according to the charge sheet, was in lawful custody, on the same day of the KaLiba incident. Yesterday, Mkhabela’s lawyer applied for bail for his client. The concerns whether or not Mkhabela was in lawful custody were raised by his lawyer, who questioned the person who Mkhabela was in custody of (police officer). He wanted to know where such a person was when he allegedly escaped and why he was not told officially that he was arrested or charged with anything. He also wants to know why his client was not cuffed if he was in lawful custody. The prosecutor had told the court that he was opposing the bail based the charge of escaping custody while at Hlatikhulu Government Hospital. The matter had to be postponed to next Tuesday, wherein there would be an examination regarding whether or not Mkhabela escaped from lawful custody before the decision to grant him bail or not is taken. The bail application was postponed to May 2, 2023.