POLICE MURDER THREAT CONDEMNED

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) has condemned Swazi police for threatening to murder a suspect of recent petrol bottle attacks.

It also condemned in the ‘strongest term possible’ that senior police have refused to investigate the case.

News broke yesterday (27 June 2010) that Swazi police had threatened the life of Brian ‘Slovo’ Shaw and told his mother to get a coffin and mourning gowns ready because they would kill Shaw if they found him.

SSN said in a statement, ‘This is a serious case of emotional harassment on an innocent elderly citizen and it cannot go unpunished’.

SSN said Shaw was one of the surviving 15 suspects who are out on bail following their apprehension by the police in 2005 in connection with a series of petrol bottle attacks.

‘He is also one of the nine amongst these who complained in court about the constant torture that the police were meting out on them. This behaviour by the Swazi police is not new as they allegedly also tell the parents of other exiled activists that they will only return to Swaziland in coffins. The mother of the late Deputy President of PUDEMO, Dr Gabriel Mkhumane, was also subjected to these inhumane remarks way before he was murdered in mysterious circumstances in April 2008.’

Swazi police have denied the threats against Shaw took place and are not investigating the matter.

POLICE THREATEN TO MURDER SUSPECT

Swazi police have threatened to murder a man they believe to be responsible for petrol bottle attacks in the kingdom.

They have warned the man’s mother to buy a coffin and mourning gown to prepare for the funeral of her son.

Police are searching for Brian ‘Slovo’ Shaw and have been staking out the home of his mother, Mbonane Sabbath Mavuso, aged 61.

Shaw, a member of the banned Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), is on the police wanted list following the recent series of petrol bottle attacks.

Mavuso told the Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, police visited her last Tuesday (22 June 2010).

‘They arrived at around 7am and were armed,’ she said.

‘Some of them were in uniform while others were not. They told me that they were looking for Brian and I told them he was not here.’

She said police told her she had to buy a coffin and mourning gown as her son would be killed.

‘The police are out to kill him. They have told me several times that he would be killed.’

She said at each visit the police terrorised her, saying she knew where Shaw was.

‘I am just tired of this life. These people have been terrorising me for something I do not know. I am not too sure my son deserves to die in this manner. If they feel he has done something wrong, they should allow the law to take its course, not to kill him,’ she said.

The Times Sunday reports that in 2006 police tortured Shaw after he was arrested on petrol bottle charges.

Shaw was shot in the elbow and arm by police when he tried to evade arrest.

After his arrest, he filed an affidavit at the High Court, saying he, together with nine of 16 suspects, were severely tortured by police officers led by the late Senior Superintendent Khethokwakhe Ndlangamandla. Shaw said he was held down on a bench and suffocated with a rubber tube until he became unconscious.

Last Month (May 2010), Sipho Jele, died in custody in suspicious circumstances after he was arrested for wearing a T-shirt supporting the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO).