Mbabane – A 48-year-old Zimbabwean woman, Stellar Mabuto, said she travelled all the way from Zimbabwe to Eswatini specifically to purchase illegal dagga which she intended to resell back home for a profit.
But Mabuto faced the harsh realities of the law when she was nabbed at the Ngenya Border with a stash of dagga weighing 10.7 kilograms on her way back on Monday.
She was charged under Section 12(1)(a), as read with Section 12(1)(c), of the Pharmacy Act No. 38 of 1929 for being in possession of the potentially poisonous substance without a valid licence.
She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to either pay a fine of E5,000 or serve five years in prison after she was found guilty of unlawful possession of dagga. The court further ordered that the dagga be forfeited to the state and discarded accordingly.
In her mitigation, Mabuto pleaded with the court for leniency. She said she is a widow and a mother of three children who are all still in school. She said she resorted to selling dagga forced due to unemployment.
Mabuto said she is single and responsible for the children and did it as mean for survival. Despite her plea, the magistrate maintained that the seriousness of the offence could not be overlooked.
The court highlighted that dagga remains an illegal substance in Eswatini and that engaging in its trafficking is a criminal offence, regardless of personal circumstances.
Discussion about this post