MBABANE – In 2001 incarcerated former legislator Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza had a simple job carrying bags of cement for a certain retail outlet, and twenty years later he sat atop an over E100 million business empire which has now all dissipated into thin air.
During the year 2021 Mabuza’s growing business comprising about 14 hardware shop outlets had employed about 500 locals, but it was around the same year when his seemingly unstoppable rise came to a screeching halt.
He believes that his undoing came when police officers came knocking on his door, with prosecutors alleging that he had instigated violence during the unprecedented turmoil that had besieged the country a few days prior to that incident.
The country and the world as represented by international observers got a glimpse into how the legislator turned dissident’s fortune got thrown into the wind, apparently due to the ideals that he held. All this emerged as his near-completion case played out at the High Court of Eswatini, where he was making his submissions in mitigation of his sentence.
He stands guilty of the charges relating to the country’s terrorism laws, including others of murder, as convicted by High Court Judge Mumcy Dlamini.
Mabuza came to prominence when he joined politics as a Member of Parliament for Hosea Constituency around 2008, only a year after starting his hardware shop business. As a legislative representative, he soon earned a reputation for being vocal and speaking his mind.
Inside the August chambers his stance on issues of interest was greeted with resistance, he told the court.
As he went about singing his life story, everyone in the wooden benches of the court gallery was asking themselves as to why a promising young politician would suddenly become unpopular with authorities inside the law-making chamber. As just about everything that involves people keen on introducing changes, the answers he presented inside the accused dock pointed to powerful and high-placed individuals who were keen on preserving the status quo. He recalled one particular incident which got him in the wrong books of the country’s authorities when he tried to defend a motion, where legislators then had passed a vote of no confidence against the cabinet of that time. He said the house had unanimously agreed to send the whole cabinet packing, and all that was remaining was for His Majesty King Mswati III to assent to the decision.
“Parliamentary procedure prescribes that the king is expected to assent to such a decision within 48 hours. But lo and behold, we had to wait for an unbelievable 12-day period before we were told that our decision had been thrown out of the window. I did not take that likely. I rose up and enquired despite that we had been warned against asking questions regarding the eventual decision. What followed was my victimisation, to the point of being told that I had a E4.8 million tax debt which I was not aware of. I managed to challenge that in the courts and the figure was brought down to E1.2 million, which I was able to pay,” narrated the distressed former legislator.
Throughout his submission in court, Mabuza made no attempt to hide his disdain for arbitrary rule and oppression of the down-trodden masses. He told the court that it was this trait of his character that has caused him to be considered a dangerous terrorist in his own country.
He told the court that, from the inception of his political career, he discovered that there was a long history of deception inside the August chambers, and attempts by many to try by all means to gain a close proximity to the centres of power. He said all this was done at the expense of the aspirations of the people. The court heard that Mabuza was of the belief that certain individuals would betray the truth just to preserve a space in close proximity to the centres of power.
“That is how I got targeted. As I stand before this court I am not afraid to disclose that I am in this current predicament because certain people decided to frame me and my two other colleagues for the sole reason of promoting their own interests. I maintain that I am innocent and that all these charges have been trumped up to sway public opinion. I had been sent by the people to advocate for an elected Prime Minister and the amendment of the Constitution in order to allow for political reforms,” he said.
Mabuza told the court that the price he got for his beliefs was the destruction of everything that he had built through hard work over the years. He said within a short space of three years, his business empire comprising 14 hardware shops was intentionally destroyed, while he was locked up.
He recalled how one of his shops located at the Sidwashini industrial site in Mbabane was reduced to ashes with a stock estimated at around E10 million.
“That is the pain that I have had to go through for the sole reason of being a person who stands for the truth. All my shops were insured but to date nothing has been paid in compensation, simply because the insurance people received an instruction against issuing any money to revive my business,” he stated.
…declares he is no terrorist, murderer
Although it might appear as a cliché, one man’s terrorist can be another’s freedom fighter.
This was what the court was called to believe when former Hosea Member of Parliament addressed High Court Judge Mumcy Dlamini, in mitigation of his sentence.
Mabuza, alongside his former colleague in Parliament Mthandeni Dube, has been convicted of charges relating to the country’s terrorism laws, including that of murder. They are only awaiting their sentence. During their trial, the prosecution tried to persuade the court to believe that the duo had instigated violence, leading to the turmoil that besieged the country around the year 2021.
However, Mabuza has maintained that he was no terrorist, nor a murderer.
The former lawmaker who was today (Wednesday February 21, 2024) scheduled to make his submissions in mitigation of his sentence before presiding judge Mumcy Dlamini, sensed an opportunity to advance the ideals that he stands for.
He first gave an indication of this when he told his lawyers that he would be comfortable with making a statement from the accused dock, instead of being led by the legal eagles.
When this was communicated to presiding Judge Dlamini, she asked if Mabuza had been warned about the consequences of this stance, to which the lead Defence lawyer Advocate Koos van Vuuren answered to the affirmative.
Then, when it was time for the terrorism charged Mabuza to address the court, he simply went for the jugular. He told the court that he had been branded a terrorist simply because of his political beliefs. He said his only sin was to carry out his mandate inside the House of Assembly in Parliament, where he advanced ideas which were given to him by the people who had elected him into parliament.
The court heard that from the inception of his career, Mabuza was outright opposed to arbitrary rule, which is why he agreed when his people gave him the mandate to lobby for an elected Prime Minister.
“I will never be a killer and I will never be a terrorist. The truth is that emaSwati need change, and want the country to be fully democratic. This is the truth, for which, if need be, I am prepared to die,” he declared.

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