Community police in Swaziland
(eSwatini) allegedly beat a teenager to death to make him confess to a crime he
had not committed.
They used knobkerries and
batons on Celumusa Dlamini, aged 17, the Times of eSwatini reported from Mahwalala.
Community police in
Swaziland have a long record of illegal beatings.
In the latest case, the Times
reported that Dlamini was one of six people accused by the police of robbing an
elderly man. It said he was interrogated through the night and died of his
injuries.
‘Knobkerries and batons
were allegedly some of the objects that were used by the community police
members to retrieve the truth” from the minor and the five others,’ the Times
reported.
It added it later
transpired that Dlamini was not part of the gang that committed the robbery.
Community police in Swaziland, which is ruled by King
Mswati III as an absolute monarch, have a long history of attacks on people. In
June 2019 it was reported police at Gundvwini in the Manzini region illegally
forced a six-year-old boy to strip and then thrashed him on the naked buttocks
after he was accused of stealing a cellphone from a schoolteacher.
The
Times of Swaziland reported at the time the boy’s aunt said the boy he
had been taken to the mountains and had his private parts squeezed before being
ordered to undress. After undressing, he was allegedly thrashed a number of
times with a stick on his bare buttocks.
The community police operate in rural Swaziland and
are supervised by traditional chiefs who are local representatives of King
Mswati. They have the authority to arrest suspects concerning minor offences
for trial by an inner council within the chiefdom. For serious offences
suspects should be handed over to the official police for further
investigations.
There have been a number of cases reported by media in Swaziland where community police have acted illegally. In June 2018 five community police officers at Ngoloweni in Sandleni attacked a man described as ‘mentally disturbed’ and beat him close to death and set his genitals on fire. They suspected the 44-year-old man had attempted to rape a girl aged six.
There have been a number of cases reported by media in Swaziland where community police have acted illegally. In June 2018 five community police officers at Ngoloweni in Sandleni attacked a man described as ‘mentally disturbed’ and beat him close to death and set his genitals on fire. They suspected the 44-year-old man had attempted to rape a girl aged six.
In April
2018 it was reported that two community police officers at Malindza
stripped a man naked, tied him to a tree and flogged his bare buttocks with
sticks until they bled profusely. They had accused him of stealing pots from
his grandfather’s house.
In March
2018 a court heard that three
community policemen from Dvokolwako gang-raped a 17-year-old schoolgirl at
knifepoint and forced her boyfriend to watch. One of them recorded it on his
cellphone. The teenager was in her school uniform while she and her boyfriend
walked to a river after a school athletics competition. The community
policemen told them they were on patrol to make sure none of the pupils
committed any offences during the athletics competition.
In 2014 three Malindza community police beat to death
a mentally challenged man who had escaped from the National Psychiatric
Centre.
In 2011 community police in Kwaluseni reportedly threatened
to murder democracy activist Musa Ngubeni if
he was released on bail pending trial on explosive offences. Residents accused
the community police in the area of being involved in criminal
activities.
See also
Police
beat man close to death
Police
gang-rape schoolgirl
Community
police banish gay men
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