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DENIED:
Mvuselelo Mkhabela was charged with eight counts but one was withdrawn by the Crown. He is alleged to have damaged a police car and assaulted Detective Constable Nkosiphile Mkhonta and others.
MBABANE – The CPS member who was involved in a scuffle with the police and got shot has denied assaulting police officers during the EBC civic and voter education at KaLiba Chiefdom in February.
Mvuselelo Mkhabela (21) of Nsingizini under Chief Susa, said he had a strong case against the Crown and it would not be in the interest of justice to keep him in custody.
He was charged with eight counts, but one was withdrawn by the Crown. He is al- leged to have damaged a police car and assaulted Detective Constable Nkosiphile Mkhonta and others, who were on duty at KaLiba during the civic and voter education exercise, among other charges.
The Crown has opposed his bail application. Mkhabela is a member of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) and a student at Gwamile VOCTIM.
Reasons
The Crown yesterday filed a notice of intention to oppose the bail application and it is yet to file its reasons for the opposition.
In his application for bail, Mkhabela told the court that he was innocent of all the charges and would plead guilty during the trial.
“I will be able to exonerate myself when my case goes to trial because I did not commit the alleged offences. I am very confident that I have a very strong case against the Crown, hence I feel that my continued detention is very much unfair and not in the interest of justice,” said Mkhabela.
The accused, who is detained at the Nhlangano Correctional Services facility, said he was confident of being acquitted.
He submitted that he was a not student at Gwamile VOCTIM in Matsapha and his continued detention impacted negatively on his academic life. The accused stated that he would be sitting his end-of-year examination and if he was not released on bail, his future would be seriously compromised.
Mkhabela also told the court that he was sickly and the conditions in which he was kept at the Correctional facility were not conducive.
The accused said on or around April 15, 2013 he was arrested by Hlatikhulu police.
He said on May 2, 2023 Crown withdrew the charge of escaping from Hlatikhulu Government Hospital while under lawful custody. Mkhabela is represented by Sabelo Makhubu of Makhubu-Mdluli Attorneys in Nhlangano.
When the alleged offences were committed, the youth of KaLiba allegedly disturbed the civic and voter education exercise after they demanded answers on why they were supposed to engage about the elections because their Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza, was arrested for voicing out his views.
DistuRbeD
They questioned the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) team after the officers had told the constituents in attendance that they were supposed to choose someone who would represent them and their views in Parliament.
After the voter education exercise was disturbed, the youth went to block the road leading to the chiefdom and pelted police’s cars with stones.
It was then that Mkhabela was alleged to have been involved in a scuffle with a police officer as he tried to grab his (police) gun and ended up getting shot. Mkhabela was later taken to Hlatikhulu Government Hospital, where he was admitted, only to disappear before he was even attended to.
He disappeared with the bullet lodged in his body after police