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Misanet.com / IPS, 7 February - The long-awaited trial of Swazi opposition leader Mario Masuku, president of the People's United Democratic Movement, which has been banned for contesting the kingdom's traditional system of royal rule, finally commenced this week, and like the view through Alice's looking glass, things get stranger and stranger. On Wednesday, day three of the trial brought a surprise suspension of proceedings until 15 February, due to a constitutional issue involving presiding Judge Josiah Matsebula. "The judge is over the legal retirement age of 65, and his ruling on this case may be invalidated," said Director of Public Prosecutions Lincoln Ng'arua, a Kenyan national. Prosecutors and justice ministry officials were unable to explain why the trial was permitted to begin under Matsebula. A special session of the Judicial Services Commission, King Mswati's handpicked advisors who review judicial performance, met in emergency session Wednesday as Masuku's supporters sat in the courtroom gallery whispering encouragement to the defendant, who sat impassively in the dock. At the trial's commencement on Monday, Masuku, who had been ailing, told spectators, mostly labour union leaders and members of the Swaziland Democratic Alliance, "I am still here. I'm okay. I'm still committed to the struggle for the democratisation of Swaziland. Viva, Comrades Viva!" His statement was answered by shouts of "Viva, Comrade Masuku!" from the gallery. Masuku entered a plea of not guilty on two charges of contravening the colonial-era Sedition and Subversives Activities Act. Government hopes to prove that Masuku called for the overthrow of King Mswati III at an illegal march in Mbabane, and at a labour rally in the central commercial town Manzini he urged Swazis to use revolutionary tactics against government. The defence team, lead by South African advocate Piet Eberson, hopes to prove Masuku did not mean to threaten King Mswati III in his alleged utterances. Prosecution witnesses, thus far police officers who testified they overheard Masuku call for the downfall of Mswati and government, were questioned by Eberson over their translation of Masuku's exact words, which were spoken in SiSwati. - The problem is that the trial is not being conducted in SiSwati, but in English, the official language of the court. "This leads to interpretation problems," says a Mbabane attorney on hand to observe the trial that has attracted international attention. Director of Public Prosecutions Ng'arua objected to a line of political questioning taken by the defence. Judge Matsebula allowed the questioning, to determine the witnesses' views on the meaning of sedition. Eberson said; "I am not putting Swaziland politics on trial, but we need to determine what sedition is to prove, as the accused contends, that he said nothing against King Mswati personally, or meant to encourage an uprising against government." Originally, Ng'arua predicted a swift two-day trial. He said at the trial's suspension on Wednesday that vigorous cross-examination of witnessed by the defence will likely extend the trial length to one month. "With a new judge, I think it will be retried de novo, or from the beginning," he said. Already, Masuku, who is considered the ipso facto leader of the kingdom's pro-democracy faction, has been incarcerated at Matsapha Maximum Security Prison, 25 kilometres east of Mbabane, since October, when he purposely violated bail conditions to protest a lack of trial date. He had been arrested in November, 2000, following illegal political rallies where he allegedly urged Swazis to rise up against government. A poll taken by the Times of Swaziland this week showed little support for a political trial, but also little support for Masuku if it is proven he urged violence against the popular King Mswati, who has ruled the tiny Southern African kingdom since 1986. Mswati was installed on the throne at age 18. Masuku has irked government authorities since 1995, when he "unbanned" the People's United Democratic Movement, and commenced a campaign of protest demonstrations. Under a 1973 royal decree, opposition parties are banned in Swaziland. Swaziland police confiscated membership cards to the outlawed People's United Democratic Movement found in the possession of spectators entering the High Court. Placards carried by some Masuku supporters reading "Guarantee Freedom of Organisation" were confiscated. A police officer said; "We are searching everyone who enters the High court premises, and we have also taken notes we have found in pockets with names and foreign telephone numbers of people who may belong to the opposition group but live outside the country." In an effort to curtail pro-Masuku demonstrations, police stopped all vehicular traffic headed for Mbabane, and travellers were asked what business they had in the capital city. But demonstrations seemed unlikely from other than Masuku's core supporters. The trial appears more of interest to the media than the general public. Alice Dlamini, a waitress at a Mbabane fast-food restaurant remarked, when she saw a foreign journalist jotting notes at her table, "I hope that when you write that Swaziland is a police state, like you probably will, you will also say that Swazis love their king." - And that we are against political opportunists, she added. Masuku contends he would like to see Swaziland ruled by a democratic system that retains King Mswati as a constitutional monarch.
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