I’M BURNING FOR DIALOGUE CALL – RAPE ACCUSED LAWYER

MBABANE –The lawyer who allegedly sexually abused his daughters, helper and cousin alleges that he is being persecuted for openly advocating for the national dialogue on social media.

He also alleged that he was being persecuted for being critical of the State over the incarceration of Members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube of Hosea and Ngwempisi. The lawyer accused Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku of spearheading his persecution to silence him. “The DPM is, therefore, doing all the strange acts of intervention and interference in my case as a political ploy to silence my voice on the issue of national dialogue, which I openly advocated on social media.

“I have also been openly critical of what I consider persecution of the two Members of Parliament, who are currently in custody and those views I expressed have contributed to the government crackdown, which has led to my detention. “I also raised a concern of the prime minister and government for announcing the setting up of an ad hoc committee for the preparation of the dialogue without engaging all stakeholders like the church, trade unions, employer organisations and others,” the lawyer submitted. The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. The Crown, which is represented by Principal Crown Counsel Mncedisi Dlamini, is yet to file its answering papers. These are some of the reasons that the lawyer included in his application for the recusal of Judge Sabelo Masuku from his trial. The trial was supposed to begin on April 18, 2023.

Interdict

In his application, the attorney, who cannot be named for ethical reasons, is seeking to interdict Judge Masuku from continuing with the hearing of his criminal matter and all its interlocutory applications, pending the final determination of this application. He also wants the court to direct that his criminal trial be removed from Judge Masuku’s roll and the matter be referred to the registrar of the High Court to be allocated another judge and hearing date. The lawyer, who is represented by Khumbulani Msibi of Dlamini Kunene Associated, has been charged with statutory rape and common law crimes of rape.

On April 18, 2023, the accused attorney raised a preliminary point in Judge Masuku’s chambers, that he should recuse himself from the matter. Judge Masuku refused to recuse himself and the attorney moved the recusal application in open court. In the papers he filed yesterday, the lawyer said he made all the comments on social media in the exercise of his right to freedom of expression, thinking that government was truly committed to the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Radio

The lawyer said, to show that government was allegedly up in arms against him, even the Prime Minister, Cleopas Dlamini, went to address the same issue which the DPM had already addressed on national radio, placing more emphasis on the alleged complainants against him and assuring the nation that they were working round the clock to have him apprehended. He told the court that the DPM addressed the nation on national radio and national television, expounding a guilt notion for him and his family members. He said this was despite that he had neither yet been tried nor arrested at the time. He alleged that a certain reporter indicated on his (lawyer’s) Facebook page how the investigating officers of the matter were purportedly forced by the DPM to surrender the complainants’ statements to the press even before meeting the DPM for the directive to speed up the matter before the courts.

The accused lawyer also said Judge Masuku served in the Law Society of Eswatini at a time when his admission as an attorney was objected to.
The lawyer told the court that Judge Masuku was the secretary of the law society that objected to his admission as an attorney. “Thus, his perception of me as some delinquent is bound to influence his judgment, even in this criminal trial. His former office (Howe Masuku Attorneys) has been very active in opposing my practice such that one Attorney Lucky Howe once stood up before court while I was addressing the High Court in one matter and opposed my appearance before Justice (Sipho) Nkosi, arguing that I was on suspension whereas I was not.

"I do not know if the learned judge was made aware of this issue of the law firm. However, since he comes from the same firm with Attorney Lucky Howe, I have reason to believe that the partners of that firm do discuss matters and as such it is very possible that my matter was also discussed and those discussions may unconsciously influence the perception of the learned judge over me,” he stated. According to the lawyer, he did not doubt the wisdom and wealth of criminal law jurisprudence deposited unto the learned judge, but his relationship with the DPM and his former law firm would most likely compromise his independence and neutrality.

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