Terrorism propelled by discovered minerals – CJ

MBABANE – Acts of terrorism in the Kingdom of Eswatini are propelled by the discovery of minerals, according to Chief Justice (CJ) Bheki Maphalala.

The CJ made this assertion at the Southern African Chief Justice Forum (SACJF) Conference and annual general meeting (AGM) hosted in Maputo, Mozambique.

The SACJF held its annual conference this past Monday and Tuesday at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre in Maputo. The heads of the Supreme Courts of Justice of Southern Africa were meeting under the theme ‘Judicial Accountability and the Role of the Judiciary in the Fight against Terrorism’.

Topics such as the implementation of electronic process management systems, the financing of terrorism and related crimes and the concept of judicial responsibility and independence were also debated at the meeting.

Maphalala was part of the panellists in the two-day conference and he touched on the issue of items that commonly propel terrorism in most countries.

Mineral resources are the main push for terrorism in any country as revealed by Maphalala and he made an example about the Cabo Delgado insurgency in Mozambique, which has seen hundreds of lives being lost due to terrorist attacks in that region.

Mozambican media reported about five days ago that suspected Al-Shabab fighters attacked precious gem-rich areas of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, closing at least two mining operations and causing hundreds of people to flee villages in Ancuabe and Montepuez districts.

Maphalala said many terrorist attacks occurred in countries where there were natural resources and instances of terrorist attacks in countries where there are no mineral resources were very rare.

“As soon as a country has mineral resources, then problems of terrorism arise. No poor country that doesn’t have resources has been subjected to terrorism. In the Northern Province of Mozambique, terrorism started when they discovered that there were deposits of oil,” he shared.

The CJ shared that some time last year, a few minerals were discovered in the Kingdom of Eswatini and since then the country had been hit by a wave of terrorist activities.

Maphalala said unfortunately for the Kingdom of Eswatini, the terrorists were armed and they were being harboured in another Southern African Development Community (SADC) country.

“They come into the country, burn infrastructure, shoot and kill citizens and then run back into this SADC country where they are harboured,” he submitted.

Powerful

Maphalala stated that government issued a statement confirming that two powerful countries were responsible for the attacks and that the motivation behind was the discovery of the resources.

“You will recall what happened in Libya, the president of Libya died because of the oil that is in that country. Same story in Iraq as well as Mozambique where there are oil deposits,” he said.

Maphalala said it was important for African countries and the region to strengthen the nodes of the investigations of the terrorism crimes as that was fundamental.

He said that entailed giving sufficient resource to police investigating units, to the prosecution so that they can gather sufficient evidence to be presented in court.

The CJ said as much as the Judiciary was part of the three arms of government; it had certain rules and procedures that they follow. He said one of the rules was that for a person to be convicted of any crime, including organised crime, it was important that there should be sufficient evidence.

“In my country there is the common law jurisdiction and the test was that there should be proof beyond reasonable doubt, proof of commission of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.

“That is why it is paramount to have a strong police investigating unit, a strong prosecution so that the evidence presented in court passes master, otherwise you have a lot of these people suspected or accused of organised crime being acquitted before the courts of law,” he shared.

Maphalala said the subject that he was addressing the gathering on was on the rule of the judiciary and preventative aspects of terrorism, what the judiciary can do to try preventing and controlling the spread of terrorism.

He said there were many international conventions and Security Council resolutions that had been taken with the view to control terrorism and many countries in Africa and other parts of the world made legislations to try and curb the spread of terrorism.

Terrorism

He said in Eswatini, the Parliament enacted the Terrorism Act of 1998, which is pursuant to the United Nations Security Council resolution 1373 as well as the UN Convention against terrorism.

He said the object of the legislation enacted in Eswatini was for the detection, suppression, deterrence of terrorism as well as punishment of all forms of terrorism in compliance with the conventions and resolutions of the UN.

The SACJF provides a formal structure through which the chief justices of Eastern and Southern Africa and Africa generally can collectively reflect on critical issues of justice delivery, and adopt action plans to address those issues in a systematic and sustained way, strengthening justice delivery in the region.