A woman in Swaziland has
complained that soldiers at a border crossing made her remove her underwear and
inspect her private parts with a mirror. The Swazi Army said it happened all
the time.
The Times
of Swaziland newspaper reported on Wednesday (7 June 2017) that
soldiers were trying to see if she was carrying ‘illegal objects’.
The newspaper reported it
happened at the informal crossing situated next to the Mananga Border Gate with
South Africa.
It said members of the Umbutfo
Swaziland Defence Force (USDF) – the official name of the Swaziland Army –
used a mirror similar to that used to inspect the underside of cars.
The Times reported, ‘The woman, who asked not to be named, said they
showed her a mirrored machine and asked her to take off her underwear and
spread her legs so wide so that it could detect if there were any illegal
objects.
‘She mentioned that when
she first arrived at the crossing point, some young looking soldiers asked her
to enter the searching tent and take off her underwear.
The woman described herself
as ‘a plus size woman and quite old’.
She added, ‘[B]eing asked to take off my underwear by
such young soldiers to stretch and show my private parts was embarrassing to
me.’
She said, ‘I was not amused
having to hold my underwear while the soldiers did their security check that
exposed my private parts,” she said.
A spokesperson for the USDF
told the newspaper there was nothing new with the method used by soldiers to
search people crossing through the informal points. The woman had been checked
by female officers, he said.
The Times reported, ‘When contacted again to determine when this type
of arrangement began, he did not offer much details, save to emphasise that all
was done for security purposes.’
In July 2015, Swazi MP Titus Thwala reported that
Swaziland soldiers
beat up old ladies so badly they had to be taken to their homes in wheelbarrows.
He said that elderly women were among the local residents who were regularly
beaten by soldiers at informal crossing points between Swaziland and South
Africa. Thwala said the soldiers made people do push ups and other exercises.
See also
SWAZI SOLDIERS TORTURE OLD LADIES
SWAZI
ARMY’S IDEA OF PEACE
ROUGH JUSTICE FOR SEX WORKERS
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