Swaziland police ‘inflict torture’ on suspects: U.S. Govt. human rights report

There have been ‘occasional reports’ in Swaziland (eSwatini) that police have inflicted ‘torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment’, according to a report from the United States Government on human rights in the kingdom.

In its annual report covering the year 2020, the US State Department said the constitution and law prohibited torture and other cruel treatments but there were ‘occasional reports that government officials employed them’.

The report stated, ‘In February, Bongani Kunene of Moyeni alleged that during an interrogation police beat him and placed a plastic bag over his head.

‘During the year there were scattered reports of police brutality towards those alleged to have violated COVID lockdowns. In one pending case, a police officer was arrested and charged with attempted murder for shooting a teenager in the arm after having fired his weapon to disperse a group of teens who were contravening COVID [coronavirus] regulations by playing soccer during the partial lockdown.

‘There were isolated reports throughout the country of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by “community police”– untrained, volunteer security personnel who exist outside the country’s formal legal structures and are empowered by rural communities to act as vigilantes, patrolling against rural crimes such as cattle rustling.

‘In November 2019 a group of community police severely beat five suspected thieves on their buttocks and paraded them naked through the street as punishment.’

See also

Swaziland still ‘not free,’ human rights group Freedom House reports

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-still-not-free-human-rights.html

Swaziland gripped by human rights abuses, annual report states

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/02/swaziland-gripped-by-human-rights.html

More work needed in Swaziland to eliminate human trafficking, new report states

Swaziland (eSwatini) has a long way to go before it eliminates human trafficking, but it is making progress, according to a new global report.

The United States Department of State stated in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report that as with the past five years, human traffickers continue to exploit domestic and foreign victims in Swaziland, and traffickers exploit victims from Swaziland abroad. Trafficking victims come primarily from poor communities with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. 

Traffickers exploit Swazi girls, particularly orphans, in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, primarily in Swaziland and South Africa. Traffickers force Swazi boys and foreign children to labour in agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country. 

Mozambican boys migrate to Swaziland for work washing cars, herding livestock, and portering; traffickers exploit some in forced labour. Traffickers use Swaziland as a transit country to transport foreign victims to South Africa for forced labour. Traffickers reportedly force Mozambican women into commercial sex in Swaziland, or transport them through Swaziland to South Africa. 

Some traffickers force Swazis into commercial sex in South Africa after voluntarily migrating in search of work. Reports suggest labour brokers fraudulently recruit and charge excessive fees to Swazi nationals for work in South African mines, means often used to facilitate trafficking crimes. Swazi men in border communities are recruited for forced labour in South Africa’s timber industry.

The report stated there had been some progress. In the past year a trafficker in Swaziland was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for forced labour and the Swazi Government trained front-line responders on how to identify trafficked people. It also launched a five-year national action plan.

‘However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not have shelter policies or guidelines to ensure quality of care for trafficking victims, and the primary shelter available was inadequate. While the government did take action against a government protection officer who assaulted and traumatized three foreign victims while they were in a government shelter, overall lack of protection efforts and oversight created the environment in which the assault took place,’ the report stated.

The report added, ‘While there were general reports of government corruption, including immigration officials seeking bribes to issue government documents such as visas, there were few reports of direct official complicity in trafficking. The government investigated a senior official for sex trafficking.’

The report listed a number of recommendations for improvement. These included increasing efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute more trafficking crimes, including internal trafficking cases; implement the national anti-trafficking action plan; address leadership issues at the anti-trafficking secretariat and enable the taskforce to fulfil its statutory responsibilities; ensure all victims of trafficking are provided appropriate and comprehensive care.

See also

University lecturers ‘forced to weed fields of Swaziland absolute monarch’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/01/university-lecturers-forced-to-weed.html

Swazi Govt misleads on child labour

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/swazi-govt-misleads-on-child-labour.html
 

Kids forced to weed King’s fields

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html

Swaziland Govt or agents ‘committed unlawful killings’, new human rights report states

The Swaziland (eSwatini) government and its agents committed ‘arbitrary or unlawful killings’, according to reports, the latest United States report on human rights in the kingdom states.

The annual report, recently released, covered the year 2019.

It stated, ‘There were reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.

‘In June police shot and killed a man suspected for harboring prison escapees and drug dealing. There were no reports that the suspect attacked or otherwise threatened police.

‘In early June a man was found severely injured after being questioned by police. The man’s cousin alleged that the man was beaten by police, and then left to die in a secluded area some 18 miles away. Police stated that they had questioned the person, decided not to charge him, and then gave him a ride to a nearby town. The man died in the hospital almost two months later. REPS [Royal eSwatini Police Service] promised to investigate, but there were no further reports concerning any investigation or disciplinary action by year’s end.’

The report was published by the United States State Department.

It highlighted cases of torture by police. It stated, ‘During the year two officers were charged with homicide in relation to their alleged roles in the 2015 death of a detainee during an interrogation. Three additional officers were investigated for torture in response to a referral from the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration Integrity.

‘In February the High Court awarded 70,000 emalangeni (US$4,870) damages for pain and suffering to a man who was assaulted by members of the UEDF [the Army] in 2003. There also were scattered reports throughout the country of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by “community police”–untrained, volunteer security personnel who exist outside the country’s formal legal structures and are empowered by rural communities to act as vigilantes, patrolling against rural crimes such as cattle rustling. 

‘In August five community police members in Sihhohweni punched, kicked, and beat a man with a broomstick so severely that he needed to be hospitalized. The abuse was reported to the REPS, and the community police members were arrested for assault. The magistrate found them guilty and sentenced each to 10 months’ imprisonment with an option of a 2,000 emalangeni (US$140) fine. In October a UEDF member was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment with an option of a 14,000 emalangeni (US$975) fine for an off-duty xenophobic assault on a Mozambican national.’

Under the heading ‘Political Prisoners and Detainees’ the report also highlighted the case of democracy activist Goodwill Sibiya who had been in lengthy pretrial detained ‘for criticism of the king’.

King Mswati III rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch.

The report stated, ‘In May activist Goodwill Sibiya filed an application in civil court accusing the king of embezzlement and lawlessness and demanded that he be arrested. Authorities arrested Sibiya and charged him with belonging to a terrorist group and with violating a section of the Sedition and Subversive Activities (SSA) Act ruled unconstitutional in 2016 by the High Court. 

‘In September the High Court ruled the government could not charge someone under a section of law that had been declared unconstitutional. The government responded by dismissing the SSA charge against Sibiya; however, the activist remained in prison awaiting trial on a Suppression of Terrorism Act charge at year’s end.’

See also

No let-up in restrictions of freedom of association and assembly in Swaziland: Human Rights Watch

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/01/no-let-up-in-restrictions-of-freedom-of.html

 

Swaziland police ‘beat teenager to death to make him confess to crime he did not commit’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/swaziland-police-beat-teenager-to-death.html

Swaziland activist who called for prosecution of King for embezzlement charged under terrorism law

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/05/swaziland-activist-who-called-for.html

No let-up in restrictions of freedom of association and assembly in Swaziland: Human Rights Watch

Restrictions on freedom of association and assembly in Swaziland (eSwatini) continued in the past year, a new report from Human Rights Watch stated.

The new Police Service Act of 2018 limited police powers to prevent gatherings as it required only a ‘notice of gathering’ to be submitted to the relevant local authority, unlike the previous 1963 law that needed the police to issue a license to permit public gatherings, HRW stated.

In a review of events in 2019 it said in August, Swazi public servants began mobilizing for a nationwide strike to demand an increase in wages. 

‘The police did not disrupt the nationwide mobilization campaigns, but fired teargas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesting government workers on September 23,’ HRW stated.

Although eSwatini signed the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in January 2018, the government did not take steps to ratify or implement the Charter.

The public servants were part of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), the Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP), and the National Public Services and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU).

 

HRW said, ‘The various legislative improvements on freedom of association and assembly contained in the new Public Order Act of 2017, which imposes restrictions on the government’s power to limit freedoms of assembly and association, were not fully tested in practice in 2019 as restrictions on freedom of association and assembly continued.’

HRW said eSwatini remained an absolute monarchy ruled by King Mswati III, who has led the kingdom since 1986, with a 1973 decree banning opposition political parties. Despite the adoption of the 2005 constitution which guarantees basic rights, and the kingdom’s international human rights commitments, the government had not reviewed the decree or changed the law to allow the formation, registration, and participation of political parties in elections.

This was not the first report to detail human rights abuses in Swaziland. The United States State Department in its review of events in 2018 reported there was no appetite to investigate human rights abuses or corruption.

A 24-page report detailed ‘human rights issues’ across a wide range of areas which included, ‘restrictions on political participation, corruption, rape and violence against women linked in part to government inaction, criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct, although rarely enforced, and child labor’. 

The report stated, ‘The government often did not investigate, prosecute, or administratively punish officials who committed human rights abuses. With very few exceptions, the government did not identify officials who committed abuses. Impunity was widespread.’

Freedom House scored Swaziland 16 out of a possible 100 points in its Freedom in the World 2019 report. It concluded that Swaziland was ‘not free’.

Freedom House stated, ‘The king exercises ultimate authority over all branches of the national government and effectively controls local governance through his influence over traditional chiefs. Political dissent and civic and labor activism are subject to harsh punishment under sedition and other laws. Additional human rights problems include impunity for security forces and discrimination against women and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people.’

Freedom House scored Swaziland one point out of a possible 16 for ‘political pluralism and participation’ stating, ‘The king has tight control over the political system in law and in practice, leaving no room for the emergence of an organized opposition with the potential to enter government. The vast majority of candidates who contested the 2018 general elections were supporters of the king.’

See also

Swaziland in economic freefall with human rights failings, report shows

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/04/swaziland-in-economic-freefall-with.html

King Mswati in complete control as another year of human rights struggle ends in Swaziland

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/king-mswati-in-complete-control-as.html 

Police violence, undemocratic elections, hunger and disease: highlights of Swaziland’s human rights violations

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/10/police-violence-undemocratic-elections.html

Swaziland falls short on eliminating human trafficking, but is making efforts, says new report

The Government of Swaziland / eSwatini does not does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of people trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, according to the latest annual report from the United States State Department.

The report covered the year 2018. ‘Poor performance by leadership personnel at the anti-trafficking secretariat remained the principal obstacle to progress on trafficking during much of the reporting period,’ the report stated.

The government shelved a long-pending draft bill to amend the 2009 People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act, as it determined it would have created expensive new bureaucratic structures.

However, the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act came into force in August 2018 which included provisions for people trafficking. The Act provides for penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to E100,000 (US$6,970), or both, for the commercial sexual exploitation of an adult and, up to 25 years’ imprisonment with no option of a fine if the offense involved a child. 

The report stated the government investigated more than 2,000 cases under the SODV Act, although it was unclear how many included potential trafficking crimes. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking offenses. 

The government increased efforts to prevent trafficking. It finalized a new, five-year national action plan. The task force for the Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling was re-established in January 2017 after a four-month lapse and met regularly in 2018 and early 2019.

The report stated, ‘As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Eswatini, and traffickers exploit victims from Eswatini abroad. Swati trafficking victims come primarily from poor communities with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. 

‘Traffickers exploit Swati girls, particularly orphans, in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, primarily in Eswatini and South Africa. Traffickers force Swati boys and foreign children to labor in agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country. 

‘Mozambican boys migrate to Eswatini for work washing cars, herding livestock, and portering; traffickers exploit some in forced labor. Traffickers use Eswatini as a transit country to transport foreign victims to South Africa for forced labor. 

‘Traffickers reportedly force Mozambican women into prostitution in Eswatini, or transport them through Eswatini to South Africa. Some traffickers force Swati into commercial sex in South Africa after voluntarily migrating in search of work. 

‘Reports suggest labor brokers fraudulently recruit and charge excessive fees to Swati nationals for work in South African mines—means often used to facilitate trafficking crimes. Swati men in border communities are recruited for forced labor in South Africa’s timber industry.’

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland, was himself named in a global report on modern slavery in 2018 for forcing his subjects to weed his fields.

His supporters say the work is done in the name of culture but others say if they do not work for the King they are punished.

The Global Slavery Index 2018 said there was evidence that the practice of kuhlehla continued, ‘where the community is forced to render services or work for the King or local chiefs’.

The report estimated there were 12,000 people in Swaziland in modern slavery. This number increased from 1,302 people in 2013 and 6,700 people in 2014. The numbers for 2018 may have been distorted by changes in the way victims were counted.

The report stated modern slavery, ‘refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception and / or abuse of power’.

This was not the first time King Mswati was named in a report on modern slavery or human trafficking. The annual Trafficking in Persons Report for 2017 from the United States State Department said, ‘Swazis are culturally expected to participate in the seasonal weeding and harvesting of the King’s fields and those who may refuse are subject to coercion through threats and intimidation by their chiefs.’

Seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than the equivalent of $US2 per day. They can be forced to work under the Swazi Administration Order, No. 6 of 1998 which makes it a duty of Swazis to obey orders and participate in compulsory works; participation is enforceable with severe penalties for those who refuse.

See also

Swaziland’s King Mswati Named as Offender in Global Report on Modern Slavery

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/07/swazilands-king-mswati-named-as.html

 

Swazi Govt misleads on child labour

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/swazi-govt-misleads-on-child-labour.html
 

Kids forced to weed King’s fields

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html

New report reveals widespread corruption across Swaziland, especially among govt officials

Corruption was widespread in Swaziland / eSwatini during 2018, a new report on human rights abuses in the kingdom reveals.

The United States Department of State reported, ‘there was a widespread public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative branches of government and a consensus that the government did little to combat it’. 

The annual report on human rights stated, ‘There were widespread reports of immigration and customs officials seeking bribes to issue government documents such as visas and resident permits. In March police raided the Department of Immigration, where they confiscated files and arrested and charged two senior immigration officers. The government filed charges against one of the senior officers based on allegations she had processed applications for travel documents for foreign nationals who were not present in, and had never visited, the country.’

It added, ‘Credible reports continued that a person’s relationship with government officials influenced the awarding of government contracts; the appointment, employment, and promotion of officials; recruitment into the security services; and school admissions. Authorities rarely took action on reported incidents of nepotism.’

This is not the first report on corruption in Swaziland issued this year. In January 2019 Transparency International scored the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch, 38 out of a possible 100 in its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018. In this scale zero is ‘highly corrupt’ and 100 is ‘very clean’.  The index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople.

In November 2018 national police Deputy Commissioner Mumcy Dlamini told an event for International Fraud Awareness Week Swaziland lost E30 million from the economy because of banking fraud alone during the previous year.

In June 2017, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) reported the kingdom, was riddled with corruption in both private and public places.

It said, ‘The results of grand corruption are there for all to see in the ever increasing wealth of high-level civil servants and officers of state.’ 

It added, ‘For a long time the police, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade as well as the Department of Customs and Excise have often been implicated in corrupt practices.’

It gave many examples including the case of the government propaganda organisation Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS) where E 1.6 million was paid to service providers for the maintenance of a machine that was neither broken nor in use.  The officer who authorised the bogus job cards has since been promoted and transferred to another government department. 

The report called The effectiveness of anti-corruption agencies in Southern Africa stated, ‘This type of behaviour is common albeit covert and therefore difficult to monitor as goods and services are undersupplied or rerouted for personal use. The results of grand corruption are there for all to see in the ever increasing wealth of high-level civil servants and officers of state.’

See also

Swaziland Auditor General fears fraud as govt pensions paid to the deceased

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/04/swaziland-auditor-general-fears-fraud.html

 

New drive against corruption in Swaziland leaves out King Mswati, the biggest drain on the public purse

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/11/new-drive-against-corruption-in.html