ANOTHER FATAL SHOOTING BY RANGERS

Game rangers in Swaziland reportedly shot dead a man who was handcuffed in another case that underlines the zero-tolerance, shoot-to-kill policy against poachers in the kingdom.

The Sunday Observer newspaper reported (14 January 2018) that the latest shooting involved a man identified only as Zwane. He died on the spot after being shot in the abdomen at close range while handcuffed by rangers.

It happened at a private farm known as ka Skeepers in Lavumisa. The newspaper reported two men had been found loitering next to the farm around 1am and in possession of two protected game, namely inyala and a wild bird. The other man was shot in both legs but survived his injuries and is in Mbabane Government Hospital awaiting an operation to remove about 13 small bullet pellets of a 12 bore shotgun from his right leg.

The man, Mxolisi Mbhamali, aged 22, of Lavumisa told the newspaper he and Zwane had been poaching and were outside of the farm when trouble started.

The newspaper reported him saying, ‘We were outside of the farm and inspecting our car which had developed mechanical faults. As we were still busy with the car, we saw two people approaching us and Zwane whistled to alert them to assist us with the vehicle. Little did we know that the people we were alerting were actually farm rangers. There were three of them, two were carrying guns while the other a sjambok. Zwane was carrying a gun and they confiscated it from him before handcuffing us.’

The newspaper reported, ‘Mbhamali said while they were still pleading with the rangers to forgive and let them go, one of them pulled the trigger and shot Zwane on the abdomen at close range.’

Mbhamali said, ‘Zwane fell into the ground and the ranger turned and shot me on both legs several times. I rolled on the ground and disappeared into the thick bushes. I thereafter heard them calling the police on their mobile phones.’

Shootings by game rangers in Swaziland have attracted international attention. In 2017 a United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) questioned Swaziland about a law that gives game rangers immunity from prosecution for killing any person suspected of having poached and Survival International reported Swaziland ‘appears’ to have a shoot-on-sight policy that allows game rangers to kill suspected poachers.

The HRC asked the Swaziland Government to explain the Game Act (No. 51/1953) as amended in 1991, which gives conservation police personnel (game rangers) immunity from prosecution for killing any person suspected of having poached.

In April 2017, Survival International wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, saying Swaziland ‘appears’ to have a shoot-on-sight policy that allows game rangers to kill suspected poachers.

In its letter it said, ‘We say “appears” because usually the policy is not defined by any law, or even written down.  As a consequence, nobody knows when wildlife officers are permitted to use lethal force against them, and it is impossible for dependents to hold to account officers whom they believe to have killed without good reason.’

Stephen Corry, Survival International Director, said the shoot-on-sight policy directly affected people who lived close to game parks and guards often failed to distinguish people hunting for food from commercial poachers.   

There has been concern in Swaziland for many years that game rangers have immunity from prosecution and can legally ‘shoot-to-kill’.

In 2016, the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) reported to a United Nations review on human rights in Swaziland, ‘There are numerous cases where citizens are shot and killed by game rangers for alleged poaching as raised by community members in several communities such as Lubulini, Nkambeni, Nkhube, Malanti, Sigcaweni, and Siphocosini. 

‘In terms of Section 23 (3) [of the Game Act] game rangers are immune from prosecution for killing suspected poachers and empowered to use firearm in the execution of their duties and to search without warrant,’ SCCCO told the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland in a report.

In January 2014, Swaziland’s Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said rangers were allowed to shoot people who were hunting for food to feed their hungry families.

Commissioner Magagula publicly stated, ‘Animals are now protected by law and hunting is no longer a free-for-all, where anybody can just wake up to hunt game whenever they crave meat.’ 

He told a meeting of traditional leaders in Swaziland, ‘Of course, it becomes very sad whenever one wakes up to reports that rangers have shot someone. These people are protected by law and it allows them to shoot, hence it would be very wise of one to shun away from trouble.’

His comments came after an impoverished unarmed local man, Thembinkosi Ngcamphalala, aged 21, died of gunshot wounds. He had been shot by a ranger outside of the Mkhaya Nature Reserve. His family, who live at Sigcaweni just outside the reserve’s borders, said he had not been poaching. 

Campaigners say poor people are not poaching large game, such as the endangered black rhinos, but go hunting animals, such as warthogs, as food to feed themselves and their families. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Swaziland where seven in ten of King Mswati’s subjects live in abject poverty. Many are forced to become hunters and gatherers to avoid starvation.

King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has given game rangers permission to shoot-to-kill people suspected of poaching wildlife on his land and protects them from prosecution for murder in some circumstances.

See also

RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/rangers-can-shoot-to-kill.html

TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html

KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/king-lets-game-rangers-shoot-to-kill.html

GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL AGAIN

Game rangers in Swaziland shot dead a man hunting food for his family and wounded another in the latest example of the kingdom’s ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy against poachers.

The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Wednesday (15 November 2017) the men begged for their lives but the rangers shot them anyway.

It happened near Somntongo in Lavumisa. The dead man was named as Caiphas Mpisi Zwane. The newspaper said he was in a hunting expedition with a friend Mxolisi Tebe Mbhamali on 10 November 2017. 

The newspaper said, ‘It is said they were seen trespassing by rangers who then followed them as they were leaving with game that they had already killed. 

‘Zwane was gunned down by the rangers while his friend also got shot but he managed to flee with the bullets lodged in one of his legs.’

The Observer said that following the recent drought that killed livestock people have been hunting game to survive and have been trespassing onto private land.

The newspaper said the two were spotted by rangers but it was too late for them to flee.

It added, ‘Having managed to apprehend the two poachers, it’s unclear what actually then led to the rangers decided to shoot them. 

‘The two tried to reason with the rangers where they asked for forgiveness, but the rangers opened fire, hitting the target.’ 

It said, ‘Reports are that as the rangers opened fire which thundered all over the area, their bullets hit Zwane on the thigh and also riddled him near the stomach, killing him instantly.’ 

Other bullets hit Mbhamali on one of the legs but he managed to escape.

Police are reported to be investigating the incident.

In May 2017 it was reported that game rangers shot dead a ‘mentally challenged’ man they suspected of poaching at Inyoni Yami Swaziland Irrigation Scheme (IYSIS), Sihhoye. The Swazi Observer reported at the time rangers shot the man who had lived all his life on the roadside and was known to the rangers who assaulted him and ‘finished him off as he ran for dear life’.

The newspaper called it ‘cold blooded murder’.

It came at a time when a United Nations’ group was questioning Swaziland about a law that gives game rangers immunity from prosecution for killing any person suspected of having poached and just after Survival International reported Swaziland ‘appears’ to have a shoot-on-sight policy that allows game rangers to kill suspected poachers.

The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) questioned the Swazi Government about the Game Act (No. 51/1953) as amended in 1991, which gives conservation police personnel (game rangers) immunity from prosecution for killing any person suspected of having poached, in line with the Covenant, and to train game rangers in human rights.

In April 2017, Survival International wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, saying Swaziland ‘appears’ to have a shoot-on-sight policy that allows game rangers to kill suspected poachers.

In its letter it said, ‘We say “appears” because usually the policy is not defined by any law, or even written down.  As a consequence, nobody knows when wildlife officers are permitted to use lethal force against them, and it is impossible for dependents to hold to account officers whom they believe to have killed without good reason.’

Stephen Corry, Survival International Director, said the shoot-on-sight policy directly affected people who lived close to game parks and guards often failed to distinguish people hunting for food from commercial poachers.   

There has been concern in Swaziland for many years that game rangers have immunity from prosecution and can legally ‘shoot-to-kill’.

In 2016, the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) reported to a United Nations review on human rights in Swaziland, ‘There are numerous cases where citizens are shot and killed by game rangers for alleged poaching as raised by community members in several communities such as Lubulini, Nkambeni, Nkhube, Malanti, Sigcaweni, and Siphocosini.’

In January 2014, Swaziland’s Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said rangers were allowed to shoot people who were hunting for food to feed their hungry families.

Magagula publicly stated, ‘Animals are now protected by law and hunting is no longer a free-for-all, where anybody can just wake up to hunt game whenever they crave meat.’ 

He told a meeting of traditional leaders in Swaziland, ‘Of course, it becomes very sad whenever one wakes up to reports that rangers have shot someone. These people are protected by law and it allows them to shoot, hence it would be very wise of one to shun away from trouble.’

See also

 

RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/rangers-can-shoot-to-kill.html

TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html

KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/king-lets-game-rangers-shoot-to-kill.html

RANGERS SHOOT DEAD ANOTHER MAN

Game rangers in Swaziland shot dead a ‘mentally challenged’ man they suspected of poaching in what the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III called ‘cold blooded murder.’

It comes at a time when a United Nations’ group is questioning Swaziland about a law that gives game rangers immunity from prosecution for killing any person suspected of having poached and just after Survival International reported Swaziland ‘appears’ to have a shoot-on-sight policy that allows game rangers to kill suspected poachers.

The most recent killing happened at Sihhoye. The Swazi Observer reported on Wednesday (17 May 2017) rangers at Inyoni Yami Swaziland Irrigation Scheme (IYSIS) shot a resident who had lived all his life on the roadside and was known to the rangers who assaulted him and ‘finished him off as he ran for dear life’.

It added, ‘As if that was not enough the rangers are alleged to have emptied some of their ammunition on themselves in an attempt to either conceal evidence or to carry out orders from a superior who had been giving instructions throughout.’

The man was named as John Tsabedze and described as a ‘lone village wanderer who scavenged for a living at the Tshaneni shopping complex trash bins where he collected leftovers’. Local newspapers described him as ‘mentally challenged’.

The Observer quoted a herd boy who said he heard screams and struggles. The newspaper reported, ‘Tsabedze was dragged from his lonely hut on the grazing land strip nearly half a kilometre from the fence with the game farm across the road to the nearby bushes on the other side where he was finished off.’

The herd boy named Siyabonga Galela Magagula said he witnessed the entire event. The Observer reported, ‘He says Tsabedze kept on fighting and he, Magagula, heard a shot being fired, apparently Tsabedze had freed himself and ran to the bushes across the road fencing on the other end with the rangers in pursuit. After disappearing into the bushes there were more gunshots and there was a sudden deafening silence that was followed by another two shots. Minutes later Tsabedze’s still body was dragged to the roadside and that was the last he saw of the elderly citizen.’

The Times of Swaziland reported on Wednesday that according to witnesses Tsabedze, ‘was unarmed and he raised his hands to the air after he was surrounded by the rangers, which meant that he was no threat to them’. 

The Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, called the shooting, ‘cold blooded murder’.

Police fired teargas to disperse about 50 Sihhoye residents who later protested at Cattle Country against the killing.

The killing comes at the time that Swaziland’s delay in implementing the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is under scrutiny. Swaziland signed in 2004 and its initial report on progress was due by 2005, but 13 years later it has failed to report. After such a long delay, the Human Rights Committee (HRC) has scheduled a review of the kingdom in the absence of report. This review will take place in July 2017.

Among other issues the HRC is asking questions about ‘the right to life’ in the kingdom. On game rangers, it asks the Swazi Government this, ‘Please explain what measures the State party [Swaziland] is taking to bring the Game Act (No. 51/1953) as amended in 1991, which gives conservation police personnel (game rangers) immunity from prosecution for killing any person suspected of having poached, in line with the Covenant, and to train game rangers in human rights.’

Last month (April 2017), Survival International wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, saying Swaziland ‘appears’ to have a shoot-on-sight policy that allows game rangers to kill suspected poachers.

In its letter it said, ‘We say “appears” because usually the policy is not defined by any law, or even written down.  As a consequence, nobody knows when wildlife officers are permitted to use lethal force against them, and it is impossible for dependents to hold to account officers whom they believe to have killed without good reason.’

Stephen Corry, Survival International Director, said the shoot-on-sight policy directly affected people who lived close to game parks and guards often failed to distinguish people hunting for food from commercial poachers.   

There has been concern in Swaziland for many years that game rangers have immunity from prosecution and can legally ‘shoot-to-kill’.

In 2016, the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) reported to a United Nations review on human rights in Swaziland, ‘There are numerous cases where citizens are shot and killed by game rangers for alleged poaching as raised by community members in several communities such as Lubulini, Nkambeni, Nkhube, Malanti, Sigcaweni, and Siphocosini. 

‘In terms of Section 23 (3) [of the Game Act] game rangers are immune from prosecution for killing suspected poachers and empowered to use firearm in the execution of their duties and to search without warrant,’ SCCCO told the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland in a report.

In January 2014, Swaziland’s Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said rangers were allowed to shoot people who were hunting for food to feed their hungry families.

Commissioner Magagula publicly stated, ‘Animals are now protected by law and hunting is no longer a free-for-all, where anybody can just wake up to hunt game whenever they crave meat.’ 

He told a meeting of traditional leaders in Swaziland, ‘Of course, it becomes very sad whenever one wakes up to reports that rangers have shot someone. These people are protected by law and it allows them to shoot, hence it would be very wise of one to shun away from trouble.’

His comments came after an impoverished unarmed local man, Thembinkosi Ngcamphalala, aged 21, died of gunshot wounds. He had been shot by a ranger outside of the Mkhaya Nature Reserve. His family, who live at Sigcaweni just outside the reserve’s borders, said he had not been poaching. 

Campaigners say poor people are not poaching large game, such as the endangered black rhinos, but go hunting animals, such as warthogs, as food to feed themselves and their families. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Swaziland where seven in ten of King Mswati’s subjects live in abject poverty. Many are forced to become hunters and gatherers to avoid starvation.

King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has given game rangers permission to shoot-to-kill people suspected of poaching wildlife on his land and protects them from prosecution for murder in some circumstances.

Ted Reilly, the chief executive of Big Game Parks (BGP), which owns and manages Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and Mkhaya Nature Reserve and also manages Hlane National Park, the kingdom’s largest protected area, held in trust for the Nation by the King, holds a Royal Warrant to allow him to shoot-to-kill. 

He has had this for at least twelve years. In 2004 Reilly appeared in a documentary produced by Journeyman Pictures in which he spoke of his relationship to the King and showed his warrant on camera.

The documentary commentator said, ‘He [the King] gave Ted a Royal Warrant that allowed him to arrest and if necessary shoot-to-kill the poachers.’

The commentator added, ‘The Royal Warrant, still in force today, protects rangers from prosecution for murder as long as the poacher draws his weapon first.’

Reilly said, ‘It is the biggest honour that you could possibly imagine.’

Reilly showed the documentary makers a specially-made fort with gun turrets, where rangers can hide to shoot at poachers. He also showed surveillance towers. ‘From here, we go out, we launch attacks,’ he said. 

On camera, Reilly said the automatic weapons his rangers used against poachers, ‘are much smaller than the AK-47, but are equally as devastating. You don’t survive one of those shots if it hits you properly’.

Reilly told the documentary, ‘Our guys aren’t to be messed with. If they [poachers] come after rhino they’re going to get hurt, and if he gets killed or maimed, well, you know, who’s to blame for that?’

See also

 

RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/rangers-can-shoot-to-kill.html

TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html

KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/king-lets-game-rangers-shoot-to-kill.html

SWAZI GAME RANGERS ‘SHOOT-TO-KILL’

People are being shot and killed in Swaziland because they are suspected of poaching and game rangers are immune from prosecution, a United Nations review on human rights has been told.

The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) reported, ‘There are numerous of cases where citizens are shot and killed by game rangers for alleged poaching as raised by community members in several communities such as Lubulini, Nkambeni, Nkhube, Malanti, Sigcaweni, and Siphocosini. 

‘In terms of Section 23 (3) [of the Game Act] game rangers are immune from prosecution for killing suspected poachers and empowered to use firearm in the execution of their duties and to search without warrant,’ SCCCO told the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland in a report.

It added, ‘For example, there is a case of Jika Jika Mabila and another, who were shot by the Mlawula game rangers for suspected poaching during the night inside the game reserve. The other died on the spot, and Jika Jika was hospitalised at the Good Shepard Hospital, as he shot on the leg, on the ribs, and on the left arm, and was eventually arrested.’

SCCCO recommended the Game Act be amended, ‘to give effect to the full protection and realisation of the right to life and to allow for the prosecution of all perpetrators of extrajudicial killings.’

There has been concern in Swaziland for many years that game rangers have immunity from prosecution and can legally ‘shoot-to-kill’.

In January 2014, Swaziland’s Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said rangers were allowed shoot people who are hunting for food to feed their hungry families.

Commissioner Magagula publicly stated, ‘Animals are now protected by law and hunting is no longer a free-for-all, where anybody can just wake up to hunt game whenever they crave meat.’ 

He told a meeting of traditional leaders in Swaziland, ‘Of course, it becomes very sad whenever one wakes up to reports that rangers have shot someone. These people are protected by law and it allows them to shoot, hence it would be very wise of one to shun away from trouble.’

His comments came after an impoverished unarmed local man, Thembinkosi Ngcamphalala, aged 21, died of gunshot wounds. He had been shot by a ranger outside of the Mkhaya Nature Reserve. His family, who live at Sigcaweni just outside the reserve’s borders, said he had not been poaching. 

Campaigners say poor people are not poaching large game, such as the endangered black rhinos, but go hunting animals, such as warthogs, as food to feed themselves and their families. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Swaziland where seven in ten of King Mswati’s subjects live in abject poverty. Many are forced to become hunters and gatherers to avoid starvation.

King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has given game rangers permission to shoot-to-kill people suspected of poaching wildlife on his land and protects them from prosecution for murder in some circumstances.

Ted Reilly, the chief executive of Big Game Parks (BGP), which owns and manages Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and Mkhaya Nature Reserve and also manages Hlane National Park, the kingdom’s largest protected area, held in trust for the Nation by the King, holds a Royal Warrant to allow him to shoot-to-kill. 

He has had this for at least twelve years. In 2004 Reilly appeared in a documentary produced by Journeyman Pictures in which he spoke of his relationship to the King and showed his warrant on camera.

The documentary commentator said, ‘He [the King] gave Ted a Royal Warrant that allowed him to arrest and if necessary shoot-to-kill the poachers.’

The commentator added, ‘The Royal Warrant, still in force today, protects rangers from prosecution for murder as long as the poacher draws his weapon first.’

Reilly said, ‘It is the biggest honour that you could possibly imagine.’

Reilly showed the documentary makers a specially-made fort with gun turrets, where rangers can hide to shoot at poachers. He also showed surveillance towers. ‘From here, we go out, we launch attacks,’ he said. 

On camera, Reilly said the automatic weapons his rangers used against poachers, ‘are much smaller than the AK-47, but are equally as devastating. You don’t survive one of those shots if it hits you properly.’

Reilly told the documentary, ‘Our guys aren’t to be messed with. If they [poachers] come after rhino they’re going to get hurt, and if he gets killed or maimed, well, you know, who’s to blame for that?’

SWAZI COPS LET MAN BE EXECUTED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/09/cops-let-swazi-man-be-executed.html

 

RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/rangers-can-shoot-to-kill.html

TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html

KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/king-lets-game-rangers-shoot-to-kill.html

POLICE CHIEF BACKS SHOOTING POACHERS

Swaziland’s Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula says rangers are allowed shoot people who are hunting for food to feed their hungry families.

This comes at a time of great concern about the apparent ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy that game rangers have adopted. A number of Swazi people have been killed when following their traditions of hunting small animals.

King Mswati III of Swaziland has given game rangers permission to shoot-to-kill people suspected of poaching wildlife on his land and protects them from prosecution for murder in some circumstances.

Ted Reilly, the chief executive of Big Game Parks (BGP), which runs the major national parks in Swaziland on behalf of the King, holds a Royal Warrant to allow him to shoot-to-kill.

Now, Commissioner Magagula has publicly stated, ‘Animals are now protected by law and hunting is no longer a free-for-all, where anybody can just wake up to hunt game whenever they crave meat.’

He told a meeting of traditional leaders in Swaziland, ‘Of course, it becomes very sad whenever one wakes up to reports that rangers have shot someone. These people are protected by law and it allows them to shoot, hence it would be very wise of one to shun away from trouble.’

This news comes as an impoverished unarmed local man, Thembinkosi Ngcamphalala, aged 21, died of gunshot wounds last month (January 2014). He had been shot by a ranger outside of the Mkhaya Nature Reserve. His family, who live at Sigcaweni just outside the reserve’s borders, said he had not been poaching.

BGP owns and manages Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and Mkhaya Nature Reserve.  It also manages Hlane National Park, the kingdom’s largest protected area, held in trust for the Nation by the King, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Swaziland has a long history of killings by rangers of local people. Campaigners say poor people are not poaching large game, such as the endangered black rhinos, but go hunting animals, such as warthogs, as food to feed themselves and their families.

Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Swaziland where seven in ten of King Mswati’s subjects live in abject poverty. Many are forced to become hunters and gatherers to avoid starvation.

See also

KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/king-lets-game-rangers-shoot-to-kill.html

 

SWAZI COPS LET MAN BE EXECUTED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/09/cops-let-swazi-man-be-executed.html

 

RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/rangers-can-shoot-to-kill.html

TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html

KING LETS GAME RANGERS SHOOT-TO-KILL

King Mswati III of Swaziland has given game rangers permission to shoot-to-kill people suspected of poaching wildlife on the monarch’s land and protects them from prosecution for murder in some circumstances.

Ted Reilly, the chief executive of Big Game Parks (BGP), which runs the major national parks in Swaziland on behalf of the King, holds a Royal Warrant to allow him to shoot-to-kill.

He has had this for at least ten years. In 2004 Reilly appeared in a documentary produced by Journeyman Pictures in which he spoke of his relationship to the King and showed his warrant on camera.

The documentary commentator said, ‘He [the King] gave Ted a Royal Warrant that allowed him to arrest and if necessary shoot-to-kill the poachers.’

The commentator added, ‘The Royal Warrant, still in force today, protects rangers from prosecution for murder as long as the poacher draws his weapon first.’

Reilly said, ‘It is the biggest honour that you could possibly imagine.’

Reilly showed the documentary makers a specially-made fort with gun turrets, where rangers can hide to shoot at poachers. He also showed surveillance towers. ‘From here, we go out, we launch attacks,’ he said.

On camera, Reilly said the automatic weapons his rangers used against poachers, ‘are much smaller than the AK-47, but are equally as devastating. You don’t survive one of those shots if it hits you properly.’

Reilly told the documentary, ‘Our guys aren’t to be messed with. If they [poachers] come after rhino they’re going to get hurt, and if he gets killed or maimed, well, you know, who’s to blame for that?’

In a post on its own website as recently as 30 October 2013, BGP said, ‘a zero tolerance towards poaching must be exercised’.

This news comes as an impoverished unarmed local man, Thembinkosi Ngcamphalala, aged 21, died of gunshot wounds last Sunday (12 January 2014). He had been shot by a ranger outside of the Mkhaya Nature Reserve. His family, who live at Sigcaweni just outside the reserve’s borders, said he had not been poaching.

BGP owns and manages Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and Mkhaya Nature Reserve.  It also manages Hlane National Park, the kingdom’s largest protected area, held in trust for the Nation by the King, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Swaziland has a long history of killings by rangers of local people. Campaigners say poor people are not poaching large game, such as the endangered black rhinos, but go hunting animals, such as warthogs, as food to feed themselves and their families. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Swaziland where seven in ten of King Mswati’s subjects live in abject poverty. Many are forced to become hunters and gatherers to avoid starvation.

International attention has focussed on the many human rights violations committed against local people who live close to the King’s game reserves.

A report on human rights in Swaziland published by the US State Department said that on July 10 2010, in Mlawula ‘rangers shot and killed Lucky Matsenjwa, who was suspected of poaching. Matsenjwa reportedly was unarmed’.

It also reported, ‘On April 10 [2010], police stopped approximately 50 persons from traveling to the kaShoba constituency to discuss the problem of violence by game park rangers against alleged poachers.’

In 2008, a young Swazi man, Musa Gamedze, was hunted down and executed in broad daylight at his home, in full view of his children.  The campaign group Friends of the Earth reported at the time that eyewitnesses said the man who fired the fatal shot was a manager at a local private game reserve. The manager was accompanied by three police officers.

Musa Gamedze was part of a community that was forcibly evicted, without compensation, by BGP from land they had lived on for more than four decades.

Friends of the Earth is also campaigning against the Game Act 1991 which allows game rangers, ‘to arrest without a warrant any person suspected upon reasonable grounds’ to have been poaching on a reserve. The rangers can make arrests up to one mile from the boundary of the game reserve.

Ted Reilly, the chief executive of BGP, was described by Inter Press Services as, ‘One of the architects of the Game Act’.

In its 2012 report on human rights in Swaziland, Amnesty International said a Swazi parliamentary committee had investigated alleged brutality by game rangers against suspected poachers. Its conclusions and recommendations to parliament listed nine incidents of deaths and injuries against game rangers and 33 against suspected poachers.

‘Some suspected poachers injured by game rangers were then prosecuted under the Game Act (as amended). No game rangers were prosecuted for fatal or non-fatal shootings. The committee recommended urgent reform of clauses in the Game Act (as amended), which could be interpreted to “condone brutality towards suspect poachers”,’ Amnesty reported.

There are numerous incidents involving rangers shooting local people. One reported by international media in 2011concerned a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the back by a ranger. The teenager, who as a minor cannot be named, told the AFP news agency he and two friends were walking outside the perimeter of the southern Mkhaya Reserve when rangers gave chase.

He said they shot him in the back. ‘I am angry. If only they could have warned us first maybe I would have understood,’ he told AFP.

BGP spokesman Mike Richardson told AFP the shooting occurred after dark inside the park. Rangers could not be certain if the boys were armed.

AFP reported at the time, BGP has a close relationship to Swazi Royalty that goes back to the 1960s.  ‘The parks provide the royal clan with a steady supply of animal pelts for the many traditional ceremonies that mark the Swazi calendar.

‘King Mswati III has entrusted the company to enforce Swaziland’s anti-poaching law to protect “royal game”,’ AFP reported.

In April 2010, Swazi lawyer Thuli Makama won a prestigious environmental award, the Goldman Environmental Prize, for her work exposing the extra-judicial killings of suspected poachers by game rangers.

Makama, head of the Swazi environmental group Yonge Nawe, told the BBC at the time the problem of rangers ‘overstepping’ their powers occurred mostly in private game reserves.

‘We are seeing incidents where people are being pursued to their homes,’ she said. ‘Where people are taken from their houses and all sorts of things are done to them.’

Makama said while researching a documentary about local communities, she discovered at least 20 cases of suspected poachers who had been killed or maimed.

Makama said suspected poachers should be arrested and ‘taken through the due process of law.  There are many illegal acts that should not mean you are tried, sentenced and executed at the scene.’

See also

SWAZI COPS LET MAN BE EXECUTED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/09/cops-let-swazi-man-be-executed.html

 

RANGERS ‘CAN SHOOT TO KILL’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/rangers-can-shoot-to-kill.html

TRUE FACE OF INJUSTICE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/true-face-of-injustice-in-swaziland.html