Police officers in
Swaziland have been caught on video brutally attacking a woman. One uses a
stone to repeatedly assault her.
This is not the first time
police have assaulted civilians in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III who is
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The Sunday Observer newspaper in Swaziland published stills (11
February 2018).
The newspaper reported the
incident happened at Lukhula on Monday 5 February 2018. Two traffic officers
based in Siteki were involved. The Observer
reported the officers who it named only as Mkhwanazi and Simelane were, ‘seen
forcefully shoving a woman, Phum’lile Maseko into a police sedan. During the
scuffle, officer Mkhwanazi picks up a stone to brutally assault the defenceless
Maseko repeatedly.
‘In an agonising voice,
Maseko is heard screaming uyangilimata,
akusimi! (you are hurting me, it is not me) while the police officer
continuously assaults her and ordering her to let loose of his police uniform’s
jacket. Maseko is holding on to Mkhwanazi’s jacket for dear life, refusing to
get into the police car.
‘At first, before
assaulting her, the officer attacked her with fists several times. After
realising that she is not letting go of his jacket, the officer bends down to
pick up a nearby stone and goes on to use it as a weapon.
‘Onlookers are heard in the
background shouting for him to leave the woman alone, screaming that she had
done nothing wrong. Despite this, the police officer continues to hit her hard
with the stone.
‘But, they then realise they are being filmed by use of a cellphone, and they quickly shift their focus to the person recording the incident and Maseko finally manages to escape from the clutches of these brutal officers.
‘But, they then realise they are being filmed by use of a cellphone, and they quickly shift their focus to the person recording the incident and Maseko finally manages to escape from the clutches of these brutal officers.
‘In the skirmish, both
Maseko and the person recording the incident, identified as Thabiso had their
phones extensively damaged by the officers.’
Maseko told the newspaper she
was at Lukhula to sell grilled mealies to passengers and on-goers.
The Observer quoted Maseko saying, ‘While I was watching the police pushing and shoving Celimpilo Mashaba, a quantum conductor I came close to the scene to watch the drama.’ The newspaper reported police said his vehicle was wrongly parked.
The Observer quoted Maseko saying, ‘While I was watching the police pushing and shoving Celimpilo Mashaba, a quantum conductor I came close to the scene to watch the drama.’ The newspaper reported police said his vehicle was wrongly parked.
The newspaper added, ‘One
of the police officers approached her across the road and allegedly dragged her
to where the sedan was parked. The traffic cops were accusing Maseko of opening
a door of the police sedan and in doing so letting Mashaba out of the vehicle.’
The Observer reported, ‘Not only do the cops smash the phone on the
ground, they are also heard hurling expletives, calling Mashaba by his mother’s
private parts, and onlookers are heard shouting at the police officer and also
telling Mashaba to go open a case against him.’
Maseko said she suffered
injuries to her hand, bruises and some chest pains.
This is not the first case
of police assaulting civilians in Swaziland. In
December 2017, police attacked people
at an illegal drinking den at Ezulwini with guns and whips in what The Observer on Saturday at the time called,
‘the truest form of brutality’.
‘Gunshots were heard with the sizeable number of police officers literally going out of their way to assault the patrons hitting them randomly with whips (tinsilane) and fists,’ the newspaper said. It added, ‘Most patrons were forced to run helter-skelter into the thick of night in a panic and in the process getting hurt by barbed wires on the fence.’
‘Gunshots were heard with the sizeable number of police officers literally going out of their way to assault the patrons hitting them randomly with whips (tinsilane) and fists,’ the newspaper said. It added, ‘Most patrons were forced to run helter-skelter into the thick of night in a panic and in the process getting hurt by barbed wires on the fence.’
In August 2017, at
least 15 armed police officers shot at an suspected drink-driver
in Manzini leaving his car riddled with more than 20 bullet holes. The Times of Swaziland reported at the time
the driver Wandile Bhembe, aged 30, said he had not seen the traffic cops
because they had the headlights of their cars switched off. The Times reported Bhemebe saying, ‘While
trying to open the door and preparing to get off, the cops dragged me into a
nearby drainage and severely assaulted me all over the body using fists, kicks
and open hands.’ Bhembe ended up in hospital with injuries all over his
body, especially to his head, mouth and chest, the Times reported.
Also in August
2017, a security guard told Mbabane court a
female police officer sat on his face and other officers
assaulted him after they accused him of stealing motor parts.
In March 2017, A man accused of multiple murders told
a court he was tortured by police for 11 days to force him to
confess. He said he was suffocated with a tube and assaulted all over his body,
resulting in many serious injuries. The alleged attack was said to have taken
place at Lobamba Police Station, the Manzini Magistrates’ Court was told.
In January 2017, local media reported police
forced a 13-year-old boy to remove his trousers and flogged
him with a sjambok, to make him confess to stealing a mobile phone.
In September 2016, media in Swaziland reported women
strikers were ambushed by armed police and ‘brutally
attacked’ at the Plantation Forest Company, near Pigg’s Peak.
Police had previously used
rubber bullets and teargas against the strikers and had fired
live rounds to disperse a crowd.
In 2013, the Open Society Initiative for Southern
Africa (OSISA) reported that Swaziland was becoming a police and military
state. It said things had become so bad in the kingdom that police were unable
to accept that peaceful political and social dissent was a vital element of a
healthy democratic process, and should not be viewed as a crime. These complaints were made by OSISA at an African Commission
on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) meeting in The Gambia on 10 April 2013.
See also
POLICE
SHOOT UP ‘DRINK-DRIVER’S’ CAR
SWAZI
POLICE SHOOT-TO-KILL
POLICE
SHOOT TWO STUDENTS IN HEAD
POLICE
SHOOT INNOCENT BYSTANDER
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/police-shoot-innocent-bystander.html
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