The announcement by the Prosecutor’s Office that the retrial of the “Masbangu” vote-buying case starts on August 31 (see related story) prompted some to wonder about a possible impact on
the elections less than a month later. It regards three –then – officers of the Police Force who allegedly sold their votes to the United People’s (UP) party in 2010 with a Volunteer Corps VKS member as the intermediary.
The Court of First Instance threw out the case because the UP leadership had not been included as the apparent vote-buyer. The prosecution appealed that ruling and the Joint Court of Justice returned the case to the lower court for a retrial.
The defendants then filed an appeal at the High Court in The Hague, but failed to provide the necessary documents, etc. That’s why the matter has now been placed back in the hands of the Court of First Instance.
But August 31 is merely the preparatory session of what is basically a new process. If any request is made by either party for additional witnesses, investigation or testimony, it could be a while before the actual trial occurs.
Moreover, the only conceivable effect on the upcoming vote would be if indeed someone on a political candidate list to be submitted August 8 were also to be charged and ultimately convicted, while an appeal probably would still suspend any sentence. There simply seems to be little chance of going through all that by September 26.
