Lawyer’s rape case: Crown to oppose bid to remove judge
RECUSAL:
The Crown, which is represented by Principal Crown Counsel Futhi Gamedze and Mncedisi Dlamini, has filed a notice of intention to oppose the lawyer’s application for Judge Masuku to recuse himself from the matter.
MBABANE – It will not be a doddle for the attorney, who allegedly raped and impregnated some of his daughters to remove Judge Sabelo Masuku from his case.
The Crown, which is represented by Principal Crown Counsel Futhi Gamedze and Mncedisi Dlamini, has filed a notice of intention to oppose the lawyer’s application for Judge Masuku to recuse himself from the matter. The lawyer’s trial was supposed to begin on April 18, 2023.
However, on that date, the lawyer approached Judge Masuku in his chambers and asked him to recuse himself from the matter because he was is the son of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Themba Masuku, whom he alleged to have been involved in the investigation of his case.
Last Friday, the attorney, who is represented by Khumbulani Msibi, filed a comprehensive application and stated his reasons to want Judge Masuku to recuse himself from the trial. The Crown will file its reasons to oppose the lawyer’s application in due course.
In the recusal application, the accused lawyer alleged that he was being persecuted for openly advocating for the national dialogue on social media. H e also alleged that he was targeted for being critical of the State over the incarceration of Members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube of Hosea and Ngwempisi, respectively. The lawyer accused the DPM of spearheading his persecution to silence him. “The DPM is, therefore, doing all the strange acts of intervention and interference in my case as a political ploy to silence my voice on the issue of the national dialogue, which I openly advocated on social media.
“I have also been openly critical of what I consider persecution of the two Members of Parliament, who are currently in custody and those views I expressed have contributed to the government crackdown, which has led to my detention.
ConCern
“I also raised a concern of the prime minister and government for announcing the setting up of an ad hoc committee for the preparation of the dialogue without engaging all the stakeholders like the church, trade unions, employer organisations and others,” the lawyer submitted.
These were some of the reasons that the lawyer included in his application for the recusal of Judge Sabelo Masuku from his trial. The attorney cannot be named for ethical reasons. He is seeking to interdict Judge Masuku from continuing with the hearing of his criminal matter and all its interlocutory applications pending the final determination of this application.
He also wants the court to direct that his criminal trial be removed from Judge Masuku’s roll and the matter be referred to the registrar of the High Court to be allocated another judge and hearing date.
The lawyer has been charged with statutory rape and common law crimes of rape.
On April 18, 2023, the accused attorney raised a preliminary point in Judge Masuku’s chambers, that he should recuse himself from the matter. Judge Masuku refused to recuse himself and the attorney moved the recusal application in open court.
In his filed papers, the lawyer said he made all the comments on social media in the exercise of his right to freedom of expression, thinking that government was truly committed to the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution.
address
The lawyer said, to show that government was allegedly up in arms against him, even the Prime Minister, Cleopas Dlamini, went to address the same issue which the DPM had already addressed on national radio, placing more emphasis on the alleged complainants against him and assuring the nation that they were working round the clock to have him apprehended.
He argued that the DPM participated actively in the investigation of his case.
He alleged that the DPM ex