Soldiers let me in – dagga suspect
MBABANE – “I was allowed by soldiers deployed at the informal crossing point to enter into Eswatini.”
This was said by Husain Ramadan from Burundi when he appeared at the Mbabane Magistrates Court charged with possession of dagga, breaching the Immigration Act, as well as resisting arrest.
Ramadan claimed that he came all the way from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he currently resided, without a travel document when he sought permission from the soldiers. He stated that he was in the country to check on his child.
Ramadan gave the explanation after Acting Mbabane Principal Magistrate Sifiso Vilakati, had asked him how he entered the country without a travel document as reflected in the charge sheet.
Johannesburg
“How can you travel all the way from Johannesburg to Eswatini without your personal documents? What if something happens to you? It is only criminals who live that way,” Vilakati asked Ramadan.
Vilakati also wondered if the country’s security was not compromised by allowing people who came from as far as Burundi to enter the country through the informal crossing points.
Sabelo ‘Chicken’ Dlamini, who represented Ramadan, in the matter shared the same sentiments with Vilakati. Dlamini mentioned that the privilege to cross between the two countries was limited to people who needed services near the borderlines. “I told him not to be surprised by why he was arrested after he was found in the country without valid documents. I explained to him that the permission from the soldiers was immaterial if he was found in the country without the valid documents,” Dlamini submitted.
Arrested
Vilakati noticed that Ramadan was arrested while driving a Honda Fit with a woman who was, however, not the mother of his child.
“How come you have been arrested at KaNcesi along with another woman, yet you had come to check on your child?” asked Vilakati. Ramadan did not come out clearly. He said, “Oh! You know being a man.” He pleaded not guilty to the possession of dagga and was acquitted and discharged. Asked why he fought the police officer during arrest, Ramadan told the court that he thought they were being robbed of their items, claiming that none of the police officers were in uniform.
He stated that he did not believe it when told that the people who invaded the homestead were police officers.
Ramadan was sentenced to five months imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of E500 for entering and remaining in the country without valid documents. He parted with E1 000 for resisting arrest.
His companion pleaded guilty to the possession of dagga and was sentenced to one year imprisonment with the option to pay a fine of E1 000.