Times Of Swaziland: FREE MPS, MBEDZI PETITION DELIVERY TO MATSAPHA CORRECTIONAL FOILED

FREE MPS, MBEDZI PETITION DELIVERY TO MATSAPHA CORRECTIONAL FOILED
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BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 21/09/2021 08:39:00


MANZINI – A group of about 20 people failed to deliver a petition to HMCS in
Matsapha where they demanded the release of the two incarcerated MPs and Amos
Mbedzi.
According to His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) Public Relations
Officer (PRO) Senior Superintendent Gugulethu Dlamini, the officers at the
Matsapha Maximum Prison where the two Members of Parliament (MPs) are locked up,
ordered the people to disperse and as such they did not deliver the petition.
Political
In the petition, the people demanded that HMCS Commissioner General Phindile
Dlamini should release the two parliamentarians; Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza
and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube, together with political prisoner, Amos Mbedzi.
They also asked why the MPs were moved from Sidwashini Correctional Facility to
the Matsapha Maximum Prison. They asked the commissioner general where the
department got the power to transfer the legislators. In the petition, they gave
the commissioner general 10 days to respond or adhere to their demands. They
said within the 10 days, she should issue a press statement announcing when she
would release the trio and explain why the incarcerated MPs were transferred
from Sidwashini Correctional Facility to the Matsapha Maximum Prison.
A source close to the matter said when the people arrived at the facility’s
gate, they sang political songs and were carrying placards with different
messages, which included the demand for the release of the trio. He said when
the officers, who were deployed at the Correctional facility’s gate and saw
the people, they approached them and ordered them to disperse. He claimed that
after engaging them, the group left.
Ground
“They left the petition on the ground before leaving, but the officers did not
take it,” the source claimed. Meanwhile, the department’s mouthpiece said
there was a group of people who came to the Matsapha Maximum Prison yesterday.
However, she said they did not know why they visited the facility. She said when
they arrived, the officers told them that the facility was an area of security
and noise was not allowed. “They ordered them to leave and they eventually
left,” the PRO said. Worth noting is that in the petition, the people referred
to themselves as emaSwati and they did not align themselves with any political
organisation. The MPs have been charged for allegedly contravening the
Suppression of Terrorism Act, while MP Mabuza has an extra charge of allegedly
breaching the COVID-19 rules and regulations. Mbedzi is the South African
national who was convicted of five charges, including sedition and murder. He
was sentenced to 85 years and six months in prison by the High Court of
Eswatini.