MBABANE: Advocates hired from South Africa to prosecute the two Members of Parliament(MPs) in Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza have written to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution warning them that there is no case against the two.
This is contained in a private correspondence between Pietermaritzburg based Advocate, Gareth Leppan SC, directed to the country’s DPP Sibusiso Gama, concedes that the state has no case against the two and that if at all they have to continue with the case the state would have to start investigations afresh.
The correspondence obviously confirms the established principle of the law suggesting that police must investigate to arrest not the other way around.
It comes after the Swaziland News revealed explosive details of the army Commander confirming that an irate King Mswati had ordered the arrest of the two MPs in Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube.
The two MP’s were recently denied bail by Judge Mumcy Dlamini, a wife to Supreme Court Judge Majahenkhaba Dlamini and a former Public Prosecutor.
Reached for comments, Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane said the leaking of the memo and the audio recordings of the Army Commander where he was confirming that it was the King who ordered their arrest suggests that no matter how they tried they can’t fool the eyes of justice.
“This case was fabricated just to suffocate the people’s voice. When you listen to the electronic evidence implicating the Army Commander it is clear that the National Commissioner was under duress to arrest us”, said the MP.
Efforts to reach Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.
But Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, a human rights lawyer said the advice from the Advocates was a huge blow to the State’s case adding that the MPs were not supposed to charged in the first place.
“This is confirmation of the fact that the charges are not legal but politically motivated. But obviously, the State is not enjoined by the law to take the advise, they may want to pursue their own political course as it appears that they are determined to. I think what has been leaked just waters down whatever the case the State think they may have”, said the human rights lawyer.
The South African based advocate went on a long detailed critique of the body of evidence presented by the DPP punching holes in various aspects of the evidence and requested the prosecution to initiate fresh investigations or collect more evidence.
“A perusal of this memorandum may reveal an inordinate attention to detail but as the matter presently stands, we do not have any evidence that implicates the suspects, one or more, in any specific offence. Various offences relating to the actions and or words of the suspects come to mind, including sedition, treason, public violence, offenses under the Suppression of Terrorism Act, incitement to commit said offenses , refusal to obey police officers’ lawful command, and even, as discussed murder. However, as it stands, no one offense has its elements fully satisfied,” reads the memo now seen by The Bridge.
The Advocate asks of the DPP to get him evidence that links the suspects to the unrests or evidence that shows that the suspects encouraged the public to defy the government order or called for the public to do away with the government.
The Advocate also expressed concerns about the manner in which the cellphones of the MP’s were confiscated and asks of the DPP to advice if this would not be challenged as the order to seize the phones was sought at the Magistrate Court and not the High Court.
NB: This story is the result of a joint effort between Swaziland News and the Bridge.
MPs Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube.