People are being shot and killed in Swaziland because
they are suspected of poaching and game rangers are immune from prosecution, a
United Nations review on human rights has been told.
The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic
Organisations (SCCCO) reported, ‘There are numerous of cases where citizens are
shot and killed by game rangers for alleged poaching as raised by community
members in several communities such as Lubulini, Nkambeni, Nkhube, Malanti,
Sigcaweni, and Siphocosini.
‘In terms of Section 23 (3) [of the Game Act] game
rangers are immune from prosecution for killing suspected poachers and
empowered to use firearm in the execution of their duties and to search without
warrant,’ SCCCO told the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on
the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland in
a report.
It added, ‘For example, there is a case of Jika Jika
Mabila and another, who were shot by the Mlawula game rangers for suspected
poaching during the night inside the game reserve. The other died on the spot,
and Jika Jika was hospitalised at the Good Shepard Hospital, as he shot on the
leg, on the ribs, and on the left arm, and was eventually arrested.’
SCCCO recommended the Game Act be amended, ‘to give
effect to the full protection and realisation of the right to life and to allow
for the prosecution of all perpetrators of extrajudicial killings.’
There has been concern in Swaziland for many years
that game rangers have immunity from prosecution and can legally ‘shoot-to-kill’.
In January 2014, Swaziland’s
Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said rangers were allowed shoot people who
are hunting for food to feed their hungry families.
Commissioner Magagula publicly stated, ‘Animals are now protected by law and hunting is
no longer a free-for-all, where anybody can just wake up to hunt game whenever
they crave meat.’
He told a meeting of
traditional leaders in Swaziland, ‘Of course, it becomes very sad whenever one
wakes up to reports that rangers have shot someone. These people are protected
by law and it allows them to shoot, hence it would be very wise of one to shun
away from trouble.’
His comments came after an impoverished unarmed local
man, Thembinkosi Ngcamphalala, aged 21, died
of gunshot wounds. He had been shot by a
ranger outside of the Mkhaya Nature
Reserve.
His family, who live at Sigcaweni just
outside the reserve’s borders, said he had not been poaching.
Campaigners say poor people are not poaching large
game, such as the endangered black rhinos, but go hunting animals, such as
warthogs, as food to feed themselves and their families. Hunger
and malnutrition are widespread in Swaziland where seven in ten of King Mswati’s
subjects live in abject poverty. Many are forced to become hunters and
gatherers to avoid starvation.
King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, has given game rangers permission to
shoot-to-kill people suspected of poaching wildlife on his land and protects
them from prosecution for murder in some circumstances.
Ted Reilly, the chief executive of Big Game Parks
(BGP), which owns and manages Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and Mkhaya Nature
Reserve and also manages Hlane National Park, the kingdom’s largest protected area,
held in trust for the Nation by the King,
holds a Royal Warrant to allow him to shoot-to-kill.
He has had this for at least twelve years. In 2004
Reilly appeared in a documentary
produced by Journeyman Pictures in which he spoke of his relationship to
the King and showed his warrant on camera.
The documentary commentator said, ‘He [the King] gave
Ted a Royal Warrant that allowed him to arrest and if necessary shoot-to-kill
the poachers.’
The commentator added, ‘The Royal Warrant, still in
force today, protects rangers from prosecution for murder as long as the poacher
draws his weapon first.’
Reilly said, ‘It is the biggest honour that you could
possibly imagine.’
Reilly showed the documentary makers a specially-made
fort with gun turrets, where rangers can hide to shoot at poachers. He also
showed surveillance towers. ‘From here, we go out, we launch attacks,’ he said.
On camera, Reilly said the automatic weapons his
rangers used against poachers, ‘are much smaller than the AK-47, but are
equally as devastating. You don’t survive one of those shots if it hits you
properly.’
Reilly told the documentary, ‘Our guys aren’t to be
messed with. If they [poachers] come after rhino they’re going to get hurt, and
if he gets killed or maimed, well, you know, who’s to blame for that?’
SWAZI COPS LET MAN BE EXECUTED
RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’
TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html
KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/king-lets-game-rangers-shoot-to-kill.html
KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL
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