Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Crown wants life imprisonment for the former MPs, while their legal representative says a sentence of seven years will be appropriate.
Judge Mumcy Dlamini told Advocate Van Vuuren that the Crown was seeking life behind bars for his clients and asked him what he would propose. Advocate Van Vuuren said a sentence of seven years would be appropriate. He said no emaSwati were crying out for the former MPs to be sentenced to life. Advocate Gareth Lepan, who appears for the Crown, told the court that Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube resolutely defended their actions and did not claim that they did anything wrong. He said, unlike Van Vuuren’s submission that the former MPs were unlikely to commit similar offences in future and they did not need any reformation, there was no assurance that they would not.
“By way of an umbrella submission, we cannot say with any degree of assurance that they will not commit these offences again,” said Lepan. He said the first aggravating factor was that the former MPs lacked remorse. He said they misled the court. According to Lepan, Mabuza and Dube were well aware that the violence and unrest were brought about by their actions, notwithstanding the disclosure of the violence in Parliament. “They further encouraged the people of Eswatini to disobey a government order, well-knowing the consequences thereof.” Lepan submitted that the other factor was that former Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) President, Quinton Dlamini, specifically alerted the former MPs to the procedure to follow when opposing the government.
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