Africa-Press – Eswatini. Motorists who will be arrested during the long Christmas weekend stand to spend five days in custody before appearing in court. If arrested on Friday, the motorists and any other person arrested for any offence would be kept in custody until Wednesday.
Their long stay in custody will be informed by two factors. The first factor is the directive which stopped judicial officers from working on weekends and public holidays. Prior to the directive, suspected offenders of traffic laws were tried a day or a few hours after their arrests.
Directives
However, government issued the directives as a cost-cutting measure as the judicial officers, who worked on weekends and public holidays, had to be paid overtime. Also, previously, drink-drivers were allowed to pay bail at the police stations, pending their court appearances. However, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said all suspects were dealt with by courts once arrested. Vilakati said the police no longer accepted bail money at the police stations.
Human Right Lawyer Sipho Gumedze said he did not know how government intended to deal with the situation before it was seen as a mockery to Section 21 (1) of the Constitution of Eswatini.The section reads: “In the determination of civil rights and obligation or any criminal charge, a person shall be given a fair and speedy public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court or adjudicating authority established by law.”
Emphasised
Gumedze emphasised the word ‘shall’, pointing out that it meant that what was being referred to was mandatory. He said in law, there was no exclusion of weekends and holidays, meaning courts could sit on weekends and public holidays. “I do not know how government intends to uphold the Constitution, which has the supremacy clause. “Keeping people in custody for more than 48 hours would be in violation of Section 21 of the Constitution of the country. “Government should consider setting up a special court to deal with cases occurring during the course of the long Christmas weekend,” he said.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
