Another magistrate in
Swaziland / eSwatini has spoken out about the increasing number of suspects who
appear in court with bruises claiming they have been assaulted by police.
Magistrate Sindisile Zwane
at Mbabane said she had noticed a number of suspects came before her in court
with bruises and swollen faces and other parts of their bodies.
The Swazi Observer reported on Thursday (3 January 2019) the numbers
were increasing significantly. The newspaper added she said police should be
able to question people without beating them up.
She made her comments
during a trial of Jules Tsabedze who was charged with obstructing two police
officers. The Observer reported, ‘The
magistrate noticed that the suspect’s face was swollen and asked why this was
the case. Tsabedze narrated that he was beaten by the police from Eteni all the
way to University of Eswatini while in the back of the police vehicle.’
This was not the first time
a magistrate in Swaziland has made a public rebuke of police. In
March 2018 Principal
Magistrate at Manzini David Khumalo told police they must not beat
suspects after a man appeared in court with injuries all over his body.
The Swazi Observer
reported at the time, ‘The Principal Magistrate warned that accused persons are
citizens of the country and they have rights too. He said they have a right to
assist police with investigations but they cannot be forced to do that by being
assaulted.’
Blessing Bakhe Maseko, aged 22, of Madonsa, informed
the court through his attorney that he was heavily assaulted with a sjambok [whip]
while inside police cells.
There have been many allegations of police assault in
recent times. In November 2018 it was reported a
man from Mangwaneni was left close to death after being allegedly
assaulted by two officers at a police station. He suffered severe internal
bleeding, heart seizures, the swelling of his kidneys and nerve damage on both
his arms and legs.
In September 2018 four
women were reportedly beaten with
sjamboks and pipes and scalded with boiling water at Siteki police station. Two
of them needed hospital treatment for burns and blisters. They were accused of
stealing from shops.
In March 2017 a man accused
of multiple murders told
Manzini Magistrates’ 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.
In January 2017 local media
reported police
forced a 13-year-old boy to remove his trousers and flogged him
at Ngwenya police station with a sjambok, to make him confess to stealing a
mobile phone.
In June 2016 a United
Nations review
panel looking into human rights in Swaziland was told in a joint
report by four organisations, ‘In Mbabane [the Swazi capital], police tortured
a 15-year-old boy after his mother had reported him for stealing E85.00 (US$6).
The boy alleges that he was beaten with a slasher (metal blade tool for cutting
grass) and knobkerrie [club] for five hours. While enduring the pain, he
alleges that he was made to count the strokes aloud for the police to hear.
Instead of being charged, the boy was physically assaulted and made to sit in a
chair for thirty minutes before he was sent back home.’
The report
was submitted to the United Human Rights Council Working Group
on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland by the Swaziland Multi-Media
Community Network, Swaziland Concerned Church Leaders, Swaziland Coalition of
Concerned Civic Organisations and Constituent Assembly – Swaziland.
See also
‘Horror tale of Swazi police torture’
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/09/horror-tale-of-swazi-police-torture.html
Police ‘brutally assault’ workers
Police ‘brutally assault’ workers
More police torture in Swaziland
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/more-police-torture-in-swaziland.html
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