Times Of Swaziland: PRINCIPAL MAGISTRATES TO NOW HANDLE RAPE, ROBBERY

PRINCIPAL MAGISTRATES TO NOW HANDLE RAPE, ROBBERY
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Kwanele Dlamini on 23/01/2025 10:32:00


MBABANE - In a move aimed at addressing the burgeoning case backlog at the High
Court, CJ Bheki Maphalala has issued a directive transferring the jurisdiction
of rape and robbery cases to the principal magistrates’ courts. In the
directive, which has been copied to all judges of the High Court, registrar of
the High Court and the principal magistrates, the chief justice (CJ) said this
move is due to a serious backlog of cases pending before the High Court. This
decision reverses a previous directive issued in 2022 that mandated the High
Court to hear all rape and robbery cases. The chief justice acknowledged the
significant backlog of cases, citing approximately 200 rape cases and over 20
robbery cases currently awaiting trial at the High Court.
“To ensure the efficient and timely administration of justice, all fresh cases
of rape and robbery pending before the High Court will be referred to the
principal magistrates’ courts for trial,” stated Maphalala in the directive.
The directive emphasises that ongoing rape and robbery cases already in progress
at the High Court, will continue to be finalised before the same court to
maintain consistency. Furthermore, the directive outlines a mechanism for cases
where the sentence may exceed the sentencing powers of the principal magistrate.
“Where the principal magistrate, after due conviction of the accused on a
charge of rape or robbery or both, is of the opinion that the sentence of
imprisonment likely to be imposed upon the accused will exceed the jurisdiction
of that court, he or she will refer that case to the High Court for sentencing
before a judge,” the directive states.
The sentencing jurisdiction of principal magistrates does not exceed 15 years.
Section 3(9) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act states that
where it has been established that the rape was committed with aggravating
factors, the offender shall on conviction be liable to a term of imprisonment
not exceeding 30 years, if the complainant is or was 10 years of age or below at
the time the offence was committed. In the case of a subsequent offence, the
sentence will not exceed 40 years.
Sentence
The above section further provides that; if the complainant is or was between 10
years of age and 18 years at the time the offence was committed, the accused
would upon conviction be liable to a sentence not exceeding 25 years and in the
case of a subsequent offence, not exceeding 30 years. The law also states that
if the complainant was an adult at the time of the offence, the accused person
would upon conviction, be liable to a sentence not exceeding 20 years in case of
a first offence and in case of a subsequent offence, not exceeding 30 years.
“Notwithstanding the provisions stipulated in any other Act, such sentences
may not be suspended or postponed,” reads part of the Act.
Meanwhile, it was previously reported that 61 women were raped at least every
month in the Kingdom of Eswatini. It was further observed that cases of
gender-based violence (GBV) that manifested mainly through rape and intimate
partner killings (passion killings), were another persistent challenge in the
country’s overall crime landscape.
rape
The most harrowing are the cases where young children and elderly women were
subjected to the horror of rape. The High Court has unlimited power to sentence
convicts and the trend, based on a past judgment, was that fathers who raped
their own daughters could get 20 years in jail. In the past some cases were
allocated to acting judges, but the contract of all those who were appointed
were not renewed due to the lack of the Judicial Service Commisison (JSC), which
has the powers to appoint the commission. It should be noted, however, that
there is no specific law that stipulates a date on which the King must appoint
or dissolve emabandla, but it has been a trend over the years that a new
Parliament worked with newly-appointed members of the different traditional
councils and committees (emabandla ekweluleka).