ONE of Matabeleland South’s traditional leaders, Chief
Mathema, has said he smells a political hand in the recent incarceration of the
outspoken Ntabazinduna chief, Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni.
Mathema said the arson charge and value of the property
destroyed did not warrant the harsh sentence imposed on his fellow chief.
He said if the State was not satisfied with the chief’s judgment,
it should have done it properly and reversed it than incarcerate him.
Chief Ndiweni, together with 23 of his subjects, were
sentenced to 24 months in prison for malicious damage to property by Bulawayo
provincial magistrate Gladmore Mushowe a fortnight ago. Six months of his
sentence – including those of his subjects – were suspended for five years on
condition of good behaviour.
His subjects had the remaining 18 months of their sentence
suspended on condition they completed 525 hours of community service at
different stations in Ntabazinduna.
The chief was jailed to an effective 18 months as the court
noted that his moral blameworthiness was too high as he acted “in a barbaric
manner for a modern society”, since he was a custodian of the law.
The traditional leader and his subjects were accused of
destroying one of his subjects, Fethi Mbele’s fence and burnt his kraal after
he allegedly defied his order and took back his wife, who the chief had
banished from his area of jurisdiction for adultery.
Responding to a question during a presentation at a
Community Youth Development Trust-organised Matabeleland South anti-corruption
indaba on Friday, Chief Mathema said he suspected a political hand behind the whole
case.
“In my view, there was a political hand behind the
incarceration of Chief Ndiweni. Traditional leaders derive their power from the
communities they lead,
culture and norms. You saw that he was arrested together
with 23 of his subjects, which shows he had he support of his people who didn’t
condone adultery in their community,” Chief Mathema said.
“Something went wrong; he shouldn’t have gone to jail.
There are a lot of things which went wrong; he shouldn’t have been jailed for a
value of $300 bond.”
The traditional leader said the country has an appeals
system which should have been used to reverse Chief Ndiweni’s judgment and made
him compensate the damage than to send him to jail.
“You know, I’m from a rural set up. It now needs law gurus
to consult and see what went wrong. They should have used the appeals system,
up to the ConCourt
(Constitutional Court), without jailing the chief. We make
mistakes as traditional leaders at our courts, but there are proper ways to
deal with it. Just like magistrates, they are not jailed since their judgments go
for review before a High Court judge,” he said.
Chief Ndiweni and his subjects, through their lawyer
Dumisani Dube, last week filed an appeal at the High Court against both their
conviction and sentence.
The traditional leader has also filed for bail pending
appeal. He is currently held at Khami Prison, waiting for the appeal cases to
be heard at the High Court. Before his incarceration, he had been critical of
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule. Newsday
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