Police in Swaziland
(eSwatini) fined a man who was out buying food for destitute children during
the coronavirus lockdown.
He had to use some of the
money that had been donated for food to pay the on-the-spot penalty.
Khulekani Msweli later wrote an open letter to Swazi
Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku complaining about the police.
The Swazi Government,
personally appointed by King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland, has
put the kingdom into lockdown. Travel is severely restricted,
businesses closed and police are fining people they find on the streets without
a ‘legitimate excuse’.
Masuku told the Swazi House
of Assembly last week that more than 300,000 people
in Swaziland from a population of 1.3 million needed food aid because they were
without an income during the lockdown.
Msweli said he was on his
way to buy foodstuff at Tshaneni to prepare meals for destitute residents of
Vuvulane, organised by the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Outreach
Foundation.
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| The community of Vuvulane: Picture: Khulekani Msweli |
New travel restrictions
imposed by Police Chief William Dlamini require people to have letters of permission to be
travelling. Msweli said he tried to get one from a local leader but his
office was closed.
He said he was stopped at a
police road block and dragged from the car. He was travelling alone and wore a
face mask as required by coronavirus (COVID-19) regulations.
He was taken to Tshaneni
Police Station.
Msweli wrote, ‘Throughout
that ordeal, I was consistently trying to explain to them that my shop visit
was out of desperation to feed children that are at the brink of survival, but
none of my pleas were adhered to.’ He said the police threatened to lock him
up.
He added he broke down and
pleaded with them to have mercy on those who depended on the food that he was
going to buy.
‘To them, I was just as
good as a criminal and deserved to be locked away for caring for others. The
accusing policeman eventually fined me E60. I paid on the spot using money
which was donated and meant to buy food for the neediest members of my
community,’ Msweli wrote.
Msweli added, ‘The
government cannot claim to be saving lives yet children might die of hunger not
COVID-19. To criminalize, harass and humiliate those that are stepping in,
where government is surely failing, is beyond belief. Is the government of eSwatini
on a mission to kill all poor people?’
He added that he ‘fought back’ until he eventually
bought all the food that was needed.
He told the Deputy Prime Minister, ‘The fact remains
that the Government of eSwatini, through its police unit, has “stolen” an
impoverished child’s E60, which was meant to buy their food. That E60 was meant
to buy food that equates to at least two meals but two children were denied
those meals.’
He added, ‘What must I tell the two children that will
be without a meal, yet money was allocated to them? This whole week they were
looking forward to their best and balanced meal, which other children received,
but what will I tell them? What sense of hope must I offer them when the Police
are punishing and “stealing” from the only people that seem to care about their
welfare?’
He said, ‘As we are all doing our best to contain the
spread of COVID-19, let us not find ourselves with a human rights catastrophe
of hunger related deaths that could have been avoided.’
The Deputy Prime Minister
later contacted Msweli to apologise. He said he had asked the National Police
Commissioner William Dlamini to ‘deal with the matter’.
See also
Swaziland
Govt. confirms it will not feed the starving in towns and cities during
coronavirus lockdown
Swaziland
Govt. pledges to feed 300,000 facing hunger in next two weeks as coronavirus
intensifies
People
face ‘imminent death from hunger’ in Swaziland as coronavirus lockdown hits
poorest
Army,
police close down Swaziland’s main commercial city in bid to halt coronavirus
spread
Public
need written permission to travel in Swaziland in big coronavirus clampdown
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