Times Of Swaziland: CONFUSION OVER LOOTING MATTERS

CONFUSION OVER LOOTING MATTERS
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BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE AND KWANELE DLAMINI on 08/11/2021 08:40:00


MBABANE - Confusion!
This phrase describes what is happening in the prosecution of the alleged
looters who were arrested around Manzini and surrounding areas during the
political unrest in the country in June and July this year. The mystification
has since seen the Crown abandoning prosecution or withdrawing charges, while
some matters were removed from the court roll. An investigation conducted by
this publication on the status of matters of the alleged looters revealed that
about 11 matters were abandoned either because there was no evidence linking the
accused to the offence or the court files went missing.
Cases
Most of the cases were being heard at Matsapha Circuit Court.  In some
instances, it was discovered that the names of the items which they allegedly
looted from different shops during the unrest were not mentioned in the charge
sheet, thus making it difficult for the prosecution to proceed with the matter.
Also, the value of the items were also not stated. This made it difficult for
the court to determine the punishment to be meted out to the accused persons.
One of the accused, who had a charge withdrawn against her, was Siphiwo
Mondlane. She is the pregnant woman who was arrested in Matsapha while returning
from Medicins Sans, Frontiers Clinic at Matsapha Industrial Site, where she had
gone for a routine pre-natal check-up. She was arrested with 18 others who were
unknown to her. Mondlane, who was granted bail fixed at E500 by Judge Titus
Mlangeni, submitted in her bail application that like a sheep to the slaughter,
she approached a police trap and was arrested in spite of the fact that she
allegedly had no palpable goods in her possession. She averred that the only
thing that was in her possession was her pre-natal medical card, which got lost
when she was arrested. About 20 lawyers offered to represent the accused persons
pro bono (for free).