Swazi newspapers are refusing to let the police off the hook, following the heavy violence some officers engaged in last Thursday (17 January 2008) outside the University of Swaziland (UNISWA).
The Swazi Observer devoted an entire page under the headline UNISWA saga: When cops pounce on ‘innocent’ citizens yesterday (Monday 21 January 2008).
It told the story of Nkosinaye Dlamini, the Swaziland College of Technology (SCOT) student, an innocent by-stander, who was shot by police in his own home.
Witness, Nkosibone Vilakati, aged 20, told the Observer that Dlamini was passing by the gates of UNISWA on his way from SCOT to a house close to the UNISWA Kwaluseni Campus.
Vilakati told the Observer that he and Dlamini walked towards the university gates to see what was happening at UNISWA where students were protesting against examinations and semesterization at the university.
The Observer reports the pair ‘only saw students chanting and they returned into the house’.
They were followed by a group of police officers and one of them said that Dlamini had been making the life of the police difficult. Dlamini responded to them and then the police jumped over the fence of the house and Dlamini and Vilakati rushed into the house.
The Observer takes up the story.
He [Vilakati] says they rushed into the house but the officers forced themselves in, pulled Nkosinaye outside and poked him with batons. He claims that they ordered him to make a drill in the same way the UNISWA students did at the gates.
‘My sister and I came out to tell them once more that he is not from UNISWA. They seemed to understand this time around and left him. He returned to the house,’ claims Nkosibone.
As they left they fired a salvo of insults, he says, but before they left the compound, his sister asked them why they were insulting them.
‘She told them that they forced themselves in the family premises and went on to invade the privacy of the family house. They turned at once at high speed as though they had received an order. We rushed to close the door but they broke the glass door with the nozzle.
‘Nkosinaye joined us to push the door against them. At the door was my sister’s 14-month-old baby, Sibahle. They pushed so hard until I was left by myself against them. Sibahle was less than half a metre away when the shot was fired,’ says Nkosibone.
He says he thought it was a teargas canister and rushed to grab the baby outside. But lo, he threw himself at them and they went for him, he claims. He says others went inside to assault Nkosinaye. The others went for his sister Sibonelo.
‘They slapped me and pulled me with hair extensions trying to get me outside. I resisted and that made them even madder. They tried to disable me by hitting both my shoulders. I knew I was almost done and tried to plead for mercy.
‘Then they went for my buttocks instead. I collapsed and they left me. I never saw them leave. I can identify about three of them,’ says Sibonelo.
She says she then came to life after a brief passing out and entered the house to get ice to cook her face. It was then Nkosinaye told her that he was hit by a bullet.
The Observer’s account is not the first account in Swazi newspapers about police brutality at UNISWA. The Observer, the Times of Swaziland and the Times Sunday have all published accounts of police out of control.
What we have still to see in any of the Swaziland news media is a statement from the Royal Swazi Police Commissioner in response to the detailed accounts that victims of the out-of-control police have made.
It is also to be hoped that someone brings the guilty police officers to account.
See also
MORE ON SWAZI POLICE BRUTALITY
SWAZILAND POLICE ON RAMPAGE
The Swazi Observer devoted an entire page under the headline UNISWA saga: When cops pounce on ‘innocent’ citizens yesterday (Monday 21 January 2008).
It told the story of Nkosinaye Dlamini, the Swaziland College of Technology (SCOT) student, an innocent by-stander, who was shot by police in his own home.
Witness, Nkosibone Vilakati, aged 20, told the Observer that Dlamini was passing by the gates of UNISWA on his way from SCOT to a house close to the UNISWA Kwaluseni Campus.
Vilakati told the Observer that he and Dlamini walked towards the university gates to see what was happening at UNISWA where students were protesting against examinations and semesterization at the university.
The Observer reports the pair ‘only saw students chanting and they returned into the house’.
They were followed by a group of police officers and one of them said that Dlamini had been making the life of the police difficult. Dlamini responded to them and then the police jumped over the fence of the house and Dlamini and Vilakati rushed into the house.
The Observer takes up the story.
He [Vilakati] says they rushed into the house but the officers forced themselves in, pulled Nkosinaye outside and poked him with batons. He claims that they ordered him to make a drill in the same way the UNISWA students did at the gates.
‘My sister and I came out to tell them once more that he is not from UNISWA. They seemed to understand this time around and left him. He returned to the house,’ claims Nkosibone.
As they left they fired a salvo of insults, he says, but before they left the compound, his sister asked them why they were insulting them.
‘She told them that they forced themselves in the family premises and went on to invade the privacy of the family house. They turned at once at high speed as though they had received an order. We rushed to close the door but they broke the glass door with the nozzle.
‘Nkosinaye joined us to push the door against them. At the door was my sister’s 14-month-old baby, Sibahle. They pushed so hard until I was left by myself against them. Sibahle was less than half a metre away when the shot was fired,’ says Nkosibone.
He says he thought it was a teargas canister and rushed to grab the baby outside. But lo, he threw himself at them and they went for him, he claims. He says others went inside to assault Nkosinaye. The others went for his sister Sibonelo.
‘They slapped me and pulled me with hair extensions trying to get me outside. I resisted and that made them even madder. They tried to disable me by hitting both my shoulders. I knew I was almost done and tried to plead for mercy.
‘Then they went for my buttocks instead. I collapsed and they left me. I never saw them leave. I can identify about three of them,’ says Sibonelo.
She says she then came to life after a brief passing out and entered the house to get ice to cook her face. It was then Nkosinaye told her that he was hit by a bullet.
The Observer’s account is not the first account in Swazi newspapers about police brutality at UNISWA. The Observer, the Times of Swaziland and the Times Sunday have all published accounts of police out of control.
What we have still to see in any of the Swaziland news media is a statement from the Royal Swazi Police Commissioner in response to the detailed accounts that victims of the out-of-control police have made.
It is also to be hoped that someone brings the guilty police officers to account.
See also
MORE ON SWAZI POLICE BRUTALITY
SWAZILAND POLICE ON RAMPAGE
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