Welshman Ncube speaks on Chief Ndiweni case

Professor Welshman Ncube has opened up on what transpired during the much hyped bail application of Nhlambabaloyi Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni.

In an exclusive interview Wildfire Deejay of The 1873 FM on Thursday Professor Ncube said, "There is a conflict of laws here as you know that in this country there is customary law which his recognised separately and the Roman Dutch law which is also recognised.  The fact of the matter is that the case emanated from the Chief's court which is a customary court it was dealt with at that level and certain penalties were imposed which was then alleged to be malicious damage to property.

"The part on why we said the conviction was in error is because the Chief had a claim of right and the people with whom he was with had a claim of right to enforce or execute the judgment of the Chief's court in the manner in which it was made. It does not matter whether that judgment was wrong, mistaken or unjust what matters is that it was a judgment of the court that was not appealed against and which needed to be executed and it was executed and that in our view can never be a crime."

When Wildfire asked whether there was political interference in the case Ncube said, "There is no rational explanation for the sentence which was imposed which why I underlined that there is no precedence. Even as we appeared in court we challenged the state to cite to the court a single case where an effective custodial sentence has ever been imposed for malicious damage tom property worth $300. It is plain that something other than the law appears to have motivated that kind of sentence because it is outside the parameters of law that we know."

Chief Ndiweni was granted bail on Wednesday after Professor successfully argued for the bail pending appeal. He is appealing against both the conviction and the sentence.