By Bahle Gama
Incarcerated former MPs Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube will be making their appearances today (Tuesday).
The duo is set to appear before Judge Mumcy Dlamini wherein submissions are to be made by the crown regarding why and how long they should be sentenced following the mitigation by Mabuza and Dube in February.
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On March 26, the High Court postponed the matter to April 30 after the crown and the suspects’ attorneys approached Judge Mumcy to request that the matter be postponed.
The lawyers met with Judge Mumcy in chambers where they told the court that Mabuza had raised concerns with them which needed to be resolved with his lawyers.
The attorneys told the court that the concerns raised by Mabuza were about his two South African advocates who were not present in court and requested that the matter be postponed.
The two advocates were last seen in their last court appearance on February 22 when Mabuza and Dube mitigated before the court.
The Crown did not oppose the application and the matter was postponed to Tuesday, April 30.
The former MPs were on July 25, 2021, arrested and charged with suppressing the Terrorism Act and murder, after they incited members of the public to riot against the Government of Eswatini in 2021, during the political unrest, which resulted in the loss of life and destruction of public and private property.
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Mabuza was acquitted of the offence of breaching the Covid-19 regulations which he allegedly committed during a community meeting that was attended by about 2,000 people at Hosea Inkhundla in June 2021.
Mabuza and Dube had denied the evidence led by the crown’s witnesses and insisted that all they did was explain the constitutional rights to the people of Eswatini.
They told the court that banning the delivery of petitions was unlawful and denied that the riot by the people was birthed by their encouragement to have emaSwati continue with the delivery of their petitions.
When delivering the verdict on June 1, 2023, Judge Mumcy set our nine reasons why she found the former MPs guilty of inflicting violence during the unrest and murder.