Soldiers in Swaziland put
16 bullets into a man and killed him because he would not stop his car at a
road check.
This was the latest in a
long line of incidents that show the kingdom’s army is out of control and also enforces
a shoot-first-ask-questions-later policy.
The army in Swaziland is known
as the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force
(USDF) and has King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, as
its chief.
The Swazi Observer,
a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported on Friday (16 October 2015)
that the soldiers, ‘found themselves with no option but to open fire when a
Toyota Tazz bearing foreign registration numbers was smuggled into the kingdom
with the occupants failing to stop when ordered to do so’.
It added, ‘A total of 16
bullet wounds were found on the deceased’s body which the army riddled through
at him as he tried to escape.’
The shooting occurred at
Gege. There were two occupants in the vehicle believed to have been stolen from
around Piet-Retief. The driver was killed on the spot while his colleague
who also got shot managed to flee with several bullet wounds, according to the Observer.
The newspaper added, ‘Army
mouthpiece Madoda Mkhatshwa said the soldiers tried to stop the car but the
driver ignored them even after firing warning shots.’
This incident comes less
than two weeks or so after soldiers also gunned down
another suspected car smuggler near Mshololo not far from Zombodze Emuva.
In July 2015 it was
reported by Titus Thwala a member of the Swazi parliament that Swaziland
soldiers beat up old ladies so badly
they had to be taken to their homes in wheelbarrows. They were among the local
residents who were regularly beaten by soldiers at informal crossing points
between Swaziland and South Africa.
This was not
the first time soldiers in Swaziland have been accused of beating and
torturing people. A man was reportedly beaten with guns and tortured for three
hours by soldiers who accused him of showing them disrespect.
Soldiers have been out of control in the kingdom for
a very long time. In January 2010 they were warned by the Swaziland Human
Rights and Public Administration Commission that their attacks on civilians
amounted to a ‘shoot
to kill’ policy and this was unconstitutional.
See also
SWAZI SOLDIERS TORTURE OLD LADIES
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/07/swazi-soldiers-torture-old-ladies.html
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