MPS’ TRIAL: PPA PLANS HIGH COURT PICKET MONDAY

MBABANE –The Political Party Assembly (PPA) is resolute in its campaign to rally behind the two incarcerated MPs as they are planning a picket outside the High Court on Monday.

This was stated by Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) President Sibongile Mazibuko yesterday during an interview. Mazibuko clarified that they would be embarking on a picket outside the High Court premises on Monday to not only show support to arrested Members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, but also dissent against the dismissal of  the MPs’ bail application twice. Worth noting is that the MPs’ bail application was dismissed by Judge Mumcy Dlamini twice. This then resulted in the MPs filing an urgent bail appeal at the Supreme Court. However, the bail appeal has still not been allocated a hearing date.

Urgent

The MPs then filed an urgent application at the High Court to compel the Chief Justice, Bheki Maphalala, to allocate their urgent bail appeal a hearing date.  According to Mazibuko, this picket was their proclamation against the issues surrounding the bail application of the incarcerated MPs. The NNLC president further, through a live broadcast on an online news publication platform on Facebook, said those who would join the protest should don black clothing to symbolise how aggrieved they were about the matter as well as to commemorate those who passed away during the civil unrest. “We will on Friday (tomorrow) head to Mkhitsini and Matsetsa to support the community members who are currently experiencing a tumultuous time as some of them are said to be in hiding in nearby mountains due to the incidents that have occurred in those areas,” she said.

Mazibuko said what they were aiming to do on Monday was an outcry for justice because they had observed many cases where the people implicated were granted bail despite the level of crime they had committed. She further highlighted that the national dialogue could not follow through without the input of the MPs as they had brought the subject to the table during their sittings in Parliament. “It is, therefore, an injustice to expect dialogue to proceed without the key voices who raised the pending issues and represented their constituencies in Parliament,” said Mazibuko.

She said for that reason also, they were embarking on this picket. It was further said the citizenry should not be fearful when it came to engaging in the picket and they discouraged others from instilling fear in the populace by telling them that they would be brutalised and shot.

Dialogue

“There are people who have been engaging in a picket outside the High Court during the MPs’ trial and so far they have not been assaulted, therefore, people should not be scared because the citizenry has a right to engage in such an exercise,” he said. A seasoned lawyer was contacted to comment on whether this planned picket would have any implications on the pending case, to which he said the answer was disappointingly none. He said this picket would have no influence or implication on the pending case. The legal eagle preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter. He made reference to the court case involving Inkhosikati LaMahlangu, where he mentioned that there were women who staged a similar protest outside the High Court at the time donning black outfits.

“It will have no effect on the legal proceedings at all, because nothing like that influences the processes of the courts. The courts will strictly adhere to its rules of conducting cases and only matters that are urgent and you have to prove why it is urgent,” he said. He said if these protests or pickets were trying to put legal pressure, there was none. However, he said, if it was political pressure then maybe. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati was also reached for comment on the matter, to which she said issues of national security would not be shared with the public.

Liphimbo Labomake representative Phumelela Dlamini stated that they were calling upon women to also show up during these demonstrations. “We need to see more women at the forefront because women are the most oppressed and a representation of  women would strengthen the mandate,” she said. Mazibuko also highlighted that they also wanted to dispel the notion that the PPA and the MSF during the Boksburg Declaration called for the preservation of the Eswatini culture, chiefs and monarchy.

She said what they were advocating for was that emaSwati should be given the opportunity to formulate their own way forward and make suggestions of whether they wanted these things to be retained and how best could they be retained. She further said if the people wanted chiefs and the monarchy to still be in place even after the proposed democratic government, they would then have to abide by the principles and laws of the new democratic constitution formulated using recommendations from all emaSwati.

Mazibuko also highlighted that they would further implement a transitional government, which meant a government where all the political parties would be working together. “This is a ship and in this ship everyone is welcome. This ship will steer us to the next level after democracy is attained. In this journey we are on, everything will be decided by the people, this will be a people’s government,” she said.

Mandate

The PPA and MSF have been quite vocal about their mandate of introducing an interim government, having previously stated that this would be the first step towards what they termed a democratic government. In the Boksburg Declaration, the PPA and MSF also stated that they would urgently embark on a sustained campaign for the immediate release of the incarcerated MPs Mabuza and Dube, as well as the unconditional return of former Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Simelane and all political exiles before the dialogue process commenced. However, it should be noted that government recently stated that the current government was in office as per the Constitution and there were no plans to introduce an interim government.

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