A refugee in Swaziland was sent to jail because he was too poor to pay traffic fines.
The man, a Congolese, who
is under asylum protection in the kingdom, was convicted of three offences
including driving without a licence.
John Dambayi, aged 38, was
fined E1,000 (US$86) by Siteki Senior Magistrate Donald Mavuso with the option
of four months in jail. He could not afford the fine and went to jail.
According to a report in
the Swazi Observer on Monday (26
February 2018), Dambayi told the court that he was a refugee who had no source
of income as he was prohibited from engaging in employment.
It is not unusual in
Swaziland where seven in ten people live in abject poverty with incomes less
than US$2 per day for people to be sent to jail because they cannot afford the
fine option.
In August 2014 it was
reported that more than 1,000 people were
in jail in Swaziland because they were too poor to pay fines. That was
nearly three in ten of the entire prison population.
In Swaziland offenders are
often given the option of jail time or paying a fine. Correctional Services
Commissioner Isaiah Ntshangase said at the time there were people in jail
because they could not pay fines for a range of matters, including traffic
offences, theft by false pretences, malicious injury to property and fraud.
Figures revealed that 1,053
of 3,615 inmates in Swazi jails were there because they did not have the money
to pay the fine option - 29.1 percent of the entire prison population.
Ntshangase said the numbers
in prison because they could not pay fines was growing.
See also
POOR
CHILDREN IN SWAZI JAIL
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