VAGRANCY ACT OUTDATED – LAWYER

MBABANE – Has Lucky Matse’s constitutional right been violated? Matse is the homeless man of Siteki who was arrested and charged under the Vagrancy Act after he was found loitering in the capital city. Human Right lawyer Sipho Gumede, in an interview, viewed Matse’s arrest as an infringement of his fundamental right.

Gumede said the Constitution of the land provided that a person should not be deprived of the freedom of movement, which is the right to move freely throughout Eswatini, the right to reside in any part of the country, the right to enter and leave Eswatini and immunity from expulsion from Eswatini.

According to Gumede, the Vagrancy Act was one of the outdated laws which were passed by colonisers when they came to Africa during the apartheid era. He said the essence of the law was to make sure that farm workers spent their time on the farms. In South Africa, a Pass Law was introduced by the White Settlers in 1800-1994. The law was almost similar to the Vagrancy Act.

The law was passed to ensure that farm workers spent their time at work. As a result, the workers were required to carry their passes for easy identification. The law also ensured that unemployed people did not loiter around the workplaces to avoid crime.

Rural

In European countries, the Vagrancy Act was passed in 1547 to 1966 to avoid crimes, especially from the rural population which migrated to towns in search for jobs. “It is a pity that some administration works against the Constitution. Really, you cannot charge a person with contravening the Vagrancy Act in Eswatini. Our Constitution allows us to move from one place to another without reporting to anyone,” Gumede said.

Matse was arrested after he was found loitering in Mbabane. This was after members of the public raised their concerns about him as he was constantly seen wandering on the streets day and night.

When arrested, Matse admitted that he had no place to live around Mbabane, which was why he was always seen on the streets. However, he claimed that he had a girlfriend around Mbabane. Surprisingly, when the woman he claimed was his girlfriend was paraded in court, she denied knowing or being in a relationship with Matse. The charitable woman informed the court that she only offered clothes to the homeless man, who was always seen wandering on the streets.

Matse seemed to have a talent as he spent most of his time doing artworks such as paintings around Mbabane.
When sentencing Matse, Senior Magistrate Nonhlanhla Dlamini informed him about the provisions of the Vagrancy Act. “The Vagrancy Act which you have been charged under provides that if a homeless person is found loitering, he shall be sentenced to six months imprisonment.

The law further provides that if the person is a repeat offender, the court should sentence him or her to two years imprisonment and order that he be deported to his or her region,” magistrate Dlamini said.

The judicial officer informed Matse that during the ban, the person was not expected to set his foot in the region where the ban was imposed.

loitering

Magistrate Dlamini applied the section which dealt with first offenders. She, therefore, advised Matse to find a place to live or else leave the capital city as the police would be watching him closely. “The police will re-arrest you once you are found loitering in Mbabane. It is a pity that the woman whom you claimed to be your girlfriend denied you,” said Dlamini.

Matse was sentenced to six months imprisonment. His sentence was wholly suspended for a period of one year on condition that he was not convicted of a similar offence.
His sentence was suspended because he was left with a month as he had already served five months in prison.
Matse once left the court with the impression that he had a mental problem when mitigating on the sentence. He pleaded for leniency stating that he was studying his dictionary. This resulted in the court ordering that he be taken to the psychiatric hospital for mental evaluation.
However, the doctor’s report pointed out that he was in a good state of mind. In an interview, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said the Vagrancy Act was still applicable. 
However, she stated that it only applied to people of good state of mind. She said the law was not common as a majority of those who wander on the streets were mentally ill.




 

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