A security guard told a
court in Swaziland a female police officer sat on his face and other officers
assaulted him after they accused him of stealing motor parts.
Vusi Thwala of Mahamba said
the officer told him, ‘You will eat what you have never eaten before.’
Thwala was giving evidence
before Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza in Mbabane. He said he was accused of
stealing motor parts and fuel at the Central Transport Administration (CTA)
Depot in Nhlangano where he works.
The Times of Swaziland reported on Friday (4 August 2017) Thwala told the
court that he was taken to a forest by the police in January 2012 where they
assaulted him and ordered him to reveal where the stolen items were kept. He
was choked and assaulted with kicks and stones.
Thwala was arrested but
discharged for lack of evidence. He is suing the government for unlawful
arrest, detention and assault. He said because of the assault he still suffers
from chest pains and his left ear still troubles him.
There are numerous reports of police torture in
Swaziland. In March 2017, A man accused of multiple murders told a court he was
tortured by police for 11 days to force him to confess. He said he was suffocated with a tube and assaulted
all over his body, resulting in many serious injuries. The alleged attack was
said to have taken place at Lobamba Police Station, the Manzini Magistrates’ Court was told.
In January 2017, local
media reported police
forced a 13-year-old boy to
remove his trousers and flogged him with a sjambok, to make him confess to
stealing a mobile phone.
In September 2016, women
were reportedly ambushed by armed police and ‘brutally attacked’ by police during a strike
at the Plantation Forest Company, near Pigg’s Peak.
In June 2016, a United Nations review panel looking
into human rights in Swaziland was told in a joint report by four
organisations, ‘In Mbabane [the Swazi capital], police tortured a 15-year-old
boy after his mother had reported him for stealing E85.00 (US$6). The boy
alleges that he was beaten with a slasher (metal blade tool for cutting grass)
and knobkerrie (club) for five hours. While enduring the pain, he alleges that
he was made to count the strokes aloud for the police to hear. Instead of being
charged, the boy was physically assaulted and made to sit in a chair for thirty
minutes before he was sent back home.’
The report
was submitted to the United Human Rights Council
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland by the Swaziland
Multi-Media Community Network, Swaziland Concerned Church Leaders, Swaziland
Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations and Constituent Assembly –
Swaziland.
They also reported the case of Phumelela Mkhweli, a
political activist who died after an alleged assault by police after they
arrested him.
The report also stated, ‘In April 2011, a 66-year-old
woman was confronted by three police officers regarding the wording on her t-shirt
and headscarf. The police allegedly pulled off her T-shirt, throttled her,
banged her head against the wall, sexually molested her, kicked her and threw
her against a police truck.
‘The US Department of State reported on many
allegations of torture and ill-treatment by police; including beatings and
temporary suffocation using rubber tube tied around the face, nose, and mouth,
or plastic bags over the head,’ the report stated.
See also
‘HORROR TALE OF SWAZI POLICE TORTURE
POLICE
‘BRUTALLY ASSUALT’ WORKERS
KING’S
PAPER SUPPORTS POLICE TORTURE
MORE
POLICE TORTURE IN SWAZILAND
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