Musa Maxwell Zondinkhundla Myeni,
the schoolteacher in Swaziland who came to international attention after he
wrestled a gun-wielding police chief to the ground to stop him firing at teachers during a protest over salaries, appeared
in court on six charges.
One teacher was shot and wounded by police on Friday
(24 August 2018) as members of the Swaziland National Association of
Teachers (SNAT) tried to enter their union building in
Manzini.
The Magistrates’ Court in Manzini, the main commercial
city in Swaziland (recently
renamed Eswatini by the Kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mswati III),
was packed with supporters on Tuesday (28 August 2018). In what might be a
first they uploaded pictures and videos of their protest to the Internet from
inside the court room.
Myeni, aged 35, a teacher at Matsanjeni
Primary School, faced six charges including public
violence, common assault and blocking the road. He was remanded on bail of
E7,000 (US$485) to reappear in Manzini Magistrates’ Court on 12 September 2018.
Photographs of Myeni disarming Station
Commander Raphael ‘Sikheshekheshe’ Maseko of Manzini police appeared in
newspapers in Swaziland and on Internet and social media sites across the
world. The Observer on Saturday and
the Swazi News in Swaziland also
published photographs of police officers pointing guns at teachers.
Willie ‘Mawillies’ Dlamini, a teacher at Salesian
High School was shot and wounded in the arm after police fired into the crowd.
Njabulo Dlamini, a branch leader of SNAT, told
the Peoples Dispatch, an online news site,
‘In most instances, the police first fire teargas to disperse protesters. But
this time things were different. The police did not even give a warning. They
started firing the live bullet at teachers.’
The Observer on
Saturday newspaper in Swaziland reported the
next day, ‘Several gunshots were heard and
bullets aimed directly at the teachers flew in all directions while stones
directed at the police officers also flew the opposite direction.’
It said teachers ran for safety and some pelted the police officers with
stones.
The Observer, a newspaper in
effect owned by King Mswati, reported that the Operational Support Services
Unit (OSSU), which it called ‘the police’s semi-military wing’, arrived to back
up the police.
Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati as an absolute monarch. Political
parties are banned and people advocating for democracy are routinely arrested
and charged under sedition and anti-terrorism laws. Police break up protest
meetings using teargas, water cannon, rubber bullets and sometimes live
ammunition.
Following the shooting the People’s United Democratic Party (PUDEMO) the
best known of the banned political parties, released a statement. ‘PUDEMO
calls upon the immediate arrest of all the police officers who were involved in
the discharging of live ammunitions against the teachers of Swaziland. We
particularly call upon the immediate arrest and prosecution of one Mr.
Sikheshekheshe Maseko, who is said to be Manzini Station Commander, who was at
the forefront of this murderous attack on the unarmed members of SNAT.’
The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) called the arrest of Myeni,
who is also a local official of SNAT, a political move. Myeni had been arrested
at his home on Sunday by six heavily armed members of the Royal Lukhozi arm of the police. It said Lukhozi
was ‘known for its torture of prisoners who often end up dead. Their greater
focus is often on human rights activists, unionists, youth and student
activists and members of political parties.’
Swazi News front page the day after the incident
Protestors inside the magistrates’ court
See also
Swazi
Police Now ‘A Private Militia’
Swaziland
‘Becoming Military State’
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/swaziland-becoming-military-state.html
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