HIGH COURT HEARS OF ‘POLICE TORTURE’

A former hotel supervisor told the Swaziland High Court police tortured her to try to make her confess to theft.

She said she was handcuffed, beaten, suffocated to near death, and threatened with hanging. She complained later to the local police commander but felt nothing was one about her complaint, so she went to court.

Phindile Mndzebele is claiming E750,000 (US$60,000) in damages from the Royal Eswatini [Swaziland] Police Service.

She told the High Court was she was the house-keeping manager at the Lugogo Sun hotel when a items and cash were reported stolen from a room. Police accused her of the theft and took her in a police vehicle to a forest up a mountain.

The Swazi Observer reported on Thursday (31 May 2018) that she denied being involved in the theft. Five officers were alleged to have forced her to sit on a grass mat and her hands were cuffed and she was suffocated three times. She was told the assault and suffocation would not stop until she soiled herself. One officer said she would hang if she did not give up the stolen items.

The ordeal ended when the police officers were called away to other duties.

The High Court was told doctors examined Mndzebele and found her muscles were swollen as a result of the assault on her back. She also had to attend daily counselling.

Reports of police torture are common in Swaziland. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in a report on Swaziland published in May 2018 stated the Swazi State, ‘continues to be either actively involved in, or turn a blind eye to, torture’. 

It added, ‘Reports of suspects dying in police custody, workers assaulted by state police, suspects shot and killed by the army, as well as suspected poachers tortured and killed by game rangers and private farm owners have come to characterize law enforcement in Swaziland.

‘Amnesty International reports that, in June 2015, a Mozambican national living in Swaziland, Luciano Reginaldo Zavale, died on the day he was arrested on allegations that he was in possession of a stolen laptop. In August 2015, independent forensic evidence indicated that he did not die of natural causes. An inquest was established to investigate the death, but its findings have never been made public. 

‘In February 2016 at the Kwaluseni campus of the University of Swaziland, a student of the University, Ayanda Mkhabela, was run over by an armoured police vehicle during a student protest and left paralysed. The Commissioner of Police publicly announced that he would institute an investigation within the police service. As at the end of 2017, no public investigation had been undertaken into the incident. The Commissioner of Police had not made public the findings of the internal investigation.’ 

The ICJ said there was generally no independent mechanism for investigating abuses committed by the police.

It added, ‘The students involved in the protest have instituted legal proceedings in respect of damages. The Government is defending the action.’

The ICJ added, ‘Recent situations paint a gloomy picture about the treatment of persons in custody. A former Member of Parliament, Charles Myeza, has added credence to the serious allegations of torture at Bhalekane Correctional Facility, revealing in court papers that officers also treated him in an inhumane way. Myeza, who was serving a custodial sentence at the facility, alleged that he was stripped naked, smacked on the buttocks and had his genitals squeezed by officers, in furtherance of a common purpose to violate his right to dignity. The former Member of Parliament is currently suing the Government.’

See also

ARMY CONFIRMS SHOOT-TO-KILL POLICY

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/04/army-confirms-shoot-to-kill-policy.html

 

ANOTHER FATAL SHOOTING BY RANGERS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/01/another-fatal-shooting-by-rangers.html

JAIL DISTURBANCES ACROSS SWAZILAND

There are reports of disturbances in jails in Swaziland and inmates are accused of brutality against warders.

It is claimed that new inmates have formed gangs and warders from jails across the kingdom have been moved to two institutions at Sidwashini and Bhalekane to increase security.

One inmate at Bhalekane has asked a court to move him for his own safety.

There have been at least two incidents where inmates rioted because they were served with poor food. This was at Sidwashini and Bhalekane. At Sidwashini, media in Swaziland report, untrained warders were sent in to help restore peace. At Bhalekane one warder had to be taken to hospital after an alleged attack.

His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS), Commissioner General Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase told the Sunday Observer (7 January 2018) the officer was trying to serve breakfast to the inmates when they kicked the tray down and assaulted him on the head with an enamel dish. 

The newspaper reported Ntshangase saying, ‘The officer was severely injured and had to be taken to hospital. All this is part of the unlawful activities that the gang members are currently engaging in. One wonders why this officer was assaulted because he had not even provoked the inmates; he was innocently serving them breakfast and they pounced on him.’

He said members of gangs at Bhalekane vandalised property including beds to make handmade weapons to attack warders.

The Swazi Observer said on Wednesday (10 January 2018) there were ‘widespread reports of brutality’. It said security had been ‘beefed up’ in facilities, ‘where such acts of violence are rife’. 

The newspaper said one inmate through his lawyers was asking the courts to transfer him to another correctional facility. It said, ‘The inmate claims he no longer feels safe at Bhalekane and the matter is pending in court.’

It said warders stationed in institutions around the kingdom such as Nhlangano and Big Bend had now transferred to increase security at Sidwashini and Bhalekane.

Meanwhile, five inmates who are believed to be part of the controversial gang known as the 26s have been charged with common assault after they allegedly assaulted another inmate at Zakhele remand centre. They allegedly beat him with fists and kicked him before stabbing him with a toothbrush.

They appeared at Manzini Magistrate’s Court where they said they had been denied the opportunity to get a lawyer. They were remanded back into custody.

See also

JAIL INMATES ‘BEATEN FREQUENTLY’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/jail-inmates-beaten-frequently.html

SWAZI JAIL RIOT OVER NO BREAD

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/swazi-jail-riot-over-no-bread.html

PROBE INTO CORRUPTION AT SWAZI JAIL

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/probe-into-corruption-at-swazi-jail.html

 

PROBE INTO ‘INHUMANE’ JAIL CONDITIONS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/probe-into-inhumane-jail-conditions.html

EX-MP SUES FOR ‘JAIL ASSAULT’

A former member of the Swaziland parliament is suing the kingdom’s jail services, alleging he was assaulted while an inmate at a correctional facility.

Charles Myeza says officers at the Bhalekane Correctional Centre squeezed his private parts and smacked his buttocks.

He is not the first former inmate at Bhalekane to allege to have been assaulted in this way.

Myeza has filed a claim at the Swazi High Court and with another former inmate is seeking E600,000 (US$44,000) damages.

The Sunday Observer newspaper (22 October 2017) in Swaziland revealed some of the contents of Myeza’s letter of demand against His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS), seven correctional facility employees, the  Commissioner General  Mzuthini Ntshangase, the National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula and the Swaziland Government.

It concerns an alleged incident at Bhalekane on 12 July 2017 at about10-11pm by law enforcement officials who raided dormitories.

The letter reads, ‘As such the client was stripped naked, smacked on the buttocks and had his genitals squeezed by officers, in furtherance of a common purpose to violate the right to dignity. 

‘Such wrongful conduct was conducted by the officers acting in the furtherance of a common purpose with the commissioner of the Correctional Services and acting within the scope of their employment herein, the conduct herein attracts vicarious liabilities herein.’ 

Myeza is not the only former inmate at Bhalekane to allege being sexually abused by warders. In August 2017 the Sunday Observer reported three former inmates alleged they were stripped and had their genitals groped. One said a warder pulled the pubic hair on his testicles. 

Warders were searching inmates for illegal drugs, the newspaper said.

One former inmate told the newspaper he had been kicked in the head by one of the officers. ‘He kept on banging my defenceless head on the ground with his soccer boot. I begged for mercy and he told me that I do not deserve mercy since I was there (jail) to pay for the crimes I committed,’ he said. 

In July 2017, the newspaper reported an entire dormitory of prisoners was ordered to strip naked during a drug search.

The newspaper reported, ‘The officers proceeded to search their dorms for narcotics (dagga) and money.  “They were wearing surgical gloves, ordered us to strip naked and face the wall as they wanted to do a strip search and they wanted things like dagga, cigarettes and money; which we thought was normal,” he said. “However they then started to smack us on our buttocks,” [a former inmate] said, adding how this was closely followed by the use of fists.

‘“I had my private parts squeezed like one does when milking a cow,” he said.’

The HMCS has denied all the allegations. 

See also

JAILERS ‘SEX ASSAULT’ ON MALE INMATES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/jailers-sex-assault-on-male-inmates.html

 

PRISONERS STRIPPED NAKED, ASSAULTED

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/prisoners-stripped-naked-assaulted.html

JAILERS ‘SEX ASSAULT’ ON MALE INMATES

More former male inmates at a jail in Swaziland say they were sexually assaulted by warders.

They say they were stripped and had their genitals groped. One said a warder pulled the pubic hair on his testicles. 

The Sunday Observer newspaper in Swaziland reported (27 August 2017) that three former inmates at Bhalekane said the jail ‘created monsters out of them’. 

It said, ‘One of them who had been with the facility for two years before he was released recently indicated that the torture he endured at Bhalekane has made him a hostile animal.’

One former inmate whom it did not name said, ‘They [warders] were doing their usual strip search, where they went on to touch me and some other inmates on our private parts, very intimately, which destroyed our manhood.’

Another former inmate said, ‘One day they returned straight from their gym and did a strip search, they would smash our hands on the floor with the soccer boots, squeeze our genitals.’

The Sunday Observer reported, ‘He further added that one of the officers even went as far as pulling the pubic hair in his testicles.’

Warders were searching inmates for illegal drugs, the newspaper said.

One of the former inmates told the newspaper, ‘Our sentence might have ended but we are definitely not the same people that went in there, we are worse and I would not be shocked if one of the inmates committed murder or any related offence because we are the animals that they are trying to build at Bhalekane.’

Another former inmate told the newspaper he had been kicked in the head by one of the officers. ‘He kept on banging my defenceless head on the ground with his soccer boot. I begged for mercy and he told me that I do not deserve mercy since I was there (jail) to pay for the crimes I committed,’ he said. 

He further alleged that he was made to work in the fields with a gun pointing on his head. 

Bhalekane was in the news in late July 2017 when a former inmate told local media an entire dormitory of prisoners was ordered to strip naked before warders searched them and smacked them on their buttocks. 

See also

PRISONERS STRIPPED NAKED, ASSAULTED

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/prisoners-stripped-naked-assaulted.html

 

‘JAIL WARDERS SELL PRISONERS DRUGS’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/jail-warders-sell-prisoners-drugs.html

 

‘WOMEN’S JAIL BOOZE COVER-UP’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/womens-jail-booze-cover-up.html

PROBE INTO ‘INHUMANE’ JAIL CONDITIONS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/probe-into-inhumane-jail-conditions.html

PROBE INTO CORRUPTION AT SWAZI JAIL

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/probe-into-corruption-at-swazi-jail.html

PRISONERS STRIPPED NAKED, ASSAULTED

Prison warders in Swaziland assaulted inmates by stripping them naked and squeezing their testicles, a local newspaper reported.

It allegedly happened at Bhalekane Correctional Services.

The Swazi Observer reported (27 July 2017) a former inmate who it called Bhekani Mkhonta (not his real name) said an entire dormitory of prisoners was ordered to strip naked.

The newspaper reported, ‘The officers proceeded to search their dorms for narcotics (dagga) and money.  “They were wearing surgical gloves, ordered us to strip naked and face the wall as they wanted to do a strip search and they wanted things like dagga, cigarettes and money; which we thought was normal,” he said. “However they then started to smack us on our buttocks,” Mkhonta said, adding how this was closely followed by the use of fists.

‘“I had my private parts squeezed like one does when milking a cow,” he said.’

The newspaper said the alleged attack happened in early July 2017. The Observer said, ‘He said he had decided to tell his story to disclose the kind of inhumane treatment inmates are subjected to, revealing that on this incident alone, some of the officers even went as far as using their own belts to lash the inmates, while demanding them to produce the narcotics they had in their possession.’

It reported Mkhonta saying, ‘That lasted for about 30 minutes, we were all crying in pain, as most of us had genitals squeezed in that manner, what hurts the most is that not all of the inmates smoke, be it cigarettes or dagga yet we were all tortured.’

Mkhonta said that a week after the alleged attack, another cell was invaded in the same manner.

According to Mkhonta there was no money or narcotics found.

Correctional Services  Public Relations Officer (PRO) Superintendent Gugulethu Dlamini disputed the allegations but confirmed that strip searches were normal in all correctional facilities.

It has also been alleged that warders at the jail sell drugs to inmates. 

See also

‘JAIL WARDERS SELL PRISONERS DRUGS’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/jail-warders-sell-prisoners-drugs.html

‘JAIL WARDERS SELL PRISONERS DRUGS’

New allegations have surfaced about corruption in Swaziland’s jails. Warders are reportedly selling drugs to inmates. This comes after a report that warders also smuggled alcohol into jail for prisoners.

The latest claim was reported by the Swazi Observer on Thursday (27 July 2017). The newspaper said dagga (marijuana) was sold at Bhalekane Correctional Centre.

It quoted a former inmate it called ‘Mkhonta’ who said there was a dagga field close to the correctional facility and it was easy to get the drug. He said, ‘You can even get dagga that weighs 5kg if you have the money for it.’

The Observer reported, ‘According to Mkhonta there is a smoke that fills the Bhalekane facility cells daily produced by the dagga that is being smoked inside the dorms.

‘“To most it seems like there is fire being burning from outside, I am sure the first thought that comes to a passer-by’s mind when they see it, is that the prison is on fire yet it is from smoking,” he said.’

Correctional Services spokesperson Superintendent Gugulethu Dlamini told the newspaper it was impossible for officers to sneak drugs into the facility. She added,  ‘Even if the officers can follow the smell of the dagga being smoked, it can be hard to tell exactly who was smoking.’

The allegation came only weeks after a report that there had been a cover-up at Sidwashini women’s jail where a senior officer had allegedly been illegally supplying alcohol to inmates. 

See also

‘WOMEN’S JAIL BOOZE COVER-UP’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/womens-jail-booze-cover-up.html

PROBE INTO ‘INHUMANE’ JAIL CONDITIONS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/probe-into-inhumane-jail-conditions.html

WARDERS DECRY MARRIED SEX IN PRISONS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/04/warders-decry-married-sex-in-prisons.html