Swaziland is so short of resources that police are
unable to secure voter registration centres and do their routine work at the
same time, according to media reports in the kingdom.
Police were unable to respond when a five-year-old was
abducted and raped because they were on election duty. Police officers have
also been left stranded at registration centres in the evenings because there
are no vehicles available to take them home.
The abduction and rape was reported by the Swazi Observer on 24 May
2018. It said a toddler was with her mother at Mahlalini, an area in the
outskirts of Nhlangano, when a man grabbed her and disappeared into a thicket
where he raped her.
Police were not available. The Observer
reported, ‘The mother said police were alerted but the excuse they gave was
that there was no vehicle at the police station as they were all assigned to
the ongoing elections registration process.’
It added, ‘Police spokesperson Superintendent Khulani Mamba confirmed
the incident and further stated that there has been no arrest as the suspect
managed to escape when means were made to apprehend him.’
There have been reports that police officers guarding registration
centres in rural areas have been stranded in the evenings because of lack of
transport. The Swazi Observer on
Thursday (31 May 2018) quoted one officer saying, ‘We are mandated to secure
the many voter registration stations around the country, but ever since the
registration process began a few weeks ago, many police officers in remote
areas have struggled to get transport back to their homes in the evenings. This
is due to a shortage of police cars, so sometimes we are forced to use public
transportation or hitch hike for lifts in the evening.’
It added, police spokesman Mamba, ‘said the service would ask government
to provide more vehicles as the current number of police cars do not support
the demand for a strong police presence that is required countrywide.’
The newspaper quoted Mamba saying, ‘Also, it is important to mention
that while other police are at the voter registration stations, other police
are still doing daily police work, this means that we are stretched and
scattered.’
Swaziland’s National Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said
the reports of vehicle shortages were not true because police had been supplied
with vehicles by the Elections and Boundaries Commission. The Swazi Observer on Thursday (31 May 2018)
reported he said police needed to be at registration centres because of a fear
that ‘progressives’ would disrupt the election process by ‘defacing ballot
papers’ and distributing pamphlets ‘demeaning the elections to scare voters
away’.
Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III who is
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from
taking part in the election.
See also
ELECTION
VOTES SOLD FOR CHICKEN PIECES
CONFUSION
OVER VOTER NUMBERS
POLICE
PROBE ELECTION “CORRUPTION’
POOR
START TO VOTER REGISTRATION
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/poor-start-to-voter-registration.html
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