As workers and pro-democracy
activists in Swaziland / eSwatini mark Workers’ Day on Wednesday (1 May 2019)
many will remember Sipho Jele who was killed by state forces in 2010.
The 35-year-old Jele was arrested
and charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act on 1 May 2010 for wearing a
T-shirt supporting the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), an organisation banned in the kingdom,
ruled by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
He was taken to Manzini Police
Station and then to Sidwashini Remand Correctional Institution. He was found
hanging from a beam in a shower block on 3 May.
The inquest verdict delivered in March 2011 said in
effect that Jele levitated to the ceiling unaided, tied an old piece of blanket
around a beam and then around his own neck and then allowed himself to fall to
the ground, thereby killing himself by hanging.
Coroner Nondumiso Simelane
reported, ‘Further, although there was nothing found at the scene which the
deceased could have used as a platform on which to stand to commit the suicide;
upon closer examination of the scene and the photos of the deceased captured at
the scene, and the pathologists concluding that “it is possible for the
deceased to have mounted himself upwards from the floor and then suspended
himself without the use of a platform,” and that “after the ligature was
applied to the beam and neck he could have lowered himself and the feet would
still be above the floor.”
Simelane recorded Jele’s death as
suicide.
Independent Specialist Forensic
Pathologist Dr Ganas Perumal at the inquest said there was no
evidence that Jele had been hanged.
According to a report in the Swazi News, Perumal said, ‘In this case there is no evidence of
being hung. The perplexing thing is how he got suspended as there was no object
on which he stood. In most cases the object is kicked away for the body to
remain suspended. There was no such object that was found. That is the only
feature that doesn’t confirm suicide. It is an enigma how he hung without
standing on an object.’
Questioned
by attorney Leo Gama on whether it was possible that Jele had tied the rope
around his neck while seated on the beam he was found hanging from, and then
threw himself down for the rope to tighten around his neck, Dr Perumal entirely
ruled out this possibility.
‘In that case there would be stretching of the skin and moreover there would be problem with the spine. Looking at the findings, we can exclude that scenario. There are no features to suggest that,’ he said.
It emerged at the inquest that Swazi police and prison warders lied a number of times about the circumstances up to the time of the death. They had claimed that they interviewed people who were in the same cell as Jele about the circumstances of his death; Perumal told the inquest that the cell mates denied being interviewed.
‘In that case there would be stretching of the skin and moreover there would be problem with the spine. Looking at the findings, we can exclude that scenario. There are no features to suggest that,’ he said.
It emerged at the inquest that Swazi police and prison warders lied a number of times about the circumstances up to the time of the death. They had claimed that they interviewed people who were in the same cell as Jele about the circumstances of his death; Perumal told the inquest that the cell mates denied being interviewed.
Perumal said, ‘I asked if any of
the inmates had been interviewed to see if they had seen him and if any fight
had ensued during the night of his death but none had been interviewed.’
This was not the first time that
the police had been found out lying to the inquest. Previously, it was discovered that police had
recorded in an official journal that Jele was in good health when he arrived at
Manzini police station.
The official record – called the
RSP 3 book – said the entry was made by Constable David Tsabedze, but he told
the inquest that he never made the entry.
This led to Attorney Leo Gama
concluding that Tsabedze never made such entries and left the space
vacant, but when the police heard that there was to be an inquest into the
matter, someone filled up those spaces without telling Tsabedze. This was so
they could show Jele was in good health when he left the police station.
Another anomaly was that although
Jele was brought to the police station at 5.30pm on 1 May, he was only placed
in a police cell at 11pm and no one could come forward to state what happened
in the meantime.
In a bizarre twist the inquest
heard that Jele asked to be sent to Sidwashini because he feared being ‘tubed’
(tortured and suffocated) if he was sent back to police custody. The Swaziland
Director of Public Prosecutions Mumcy Dlamini said she was pleased to hear this
because it meant Jele had not yet been tortured while at the police station.
Dlamini told the inquest as far as she knew the only reason why Jele wanted to
go to Sidvwashini was his fear of torture by police.
The inquest was told Jele was
taken out of the Manzini Police Station’s cell for interrogation purposes for
hours on different occasions, but one officer said it was unclear whether they
also took him out of the building.
A jailor, Assistant
Superintendent Richard Mthukutheli Fakudze, told
the inquest he found Jele hanging from a concrete bar in the bathroom of his
prison cell at about 5am on 3 May and he just knew Jele had killed himself.
While he gave his testimony, he was interrupted by Prosecutor Phila Dlamini who
warned him to only say what he observed and desist from giving an opinion.
Fakudze had conclusively said Jele hanged himself yet he found him hanging.
Said Dlamini, ‘If you insist that he hanged himself, you are actually saying
that you saw him tying the blanket around his neck and hanging himself.’
Jele was charged under S19 (1)
(a) of the Suppression of terrorism Act for wearing a T-shirt with PUDEMO
written on it.
S19 (1) (a) of the STA states, ‘A
person who is a member of a terrorist group commits an offence and shall on
conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten (10) years.’
Wearing a PUDEMO T-Shirt does not
make you a member of PUDEMO and therefore the police had no reason to arrest
Jele. But after police arrested him they then took him to his home and searched it and later alleged they had
found materials linking him to the banned political organisation.
Amnesty International suspected
that Jele might have been targeted for arrest at the May Day rally. Jele was
one of 16 prodemocracy activists awaiting trial after they were charged with
treason in 2005.
In a public statement, Amnesty
said, ‘Mr Jele had been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in police
custody in the past. He was detained by police in December 2005 and
subsequently charged with treason along with 15 others. Mr Jele alleged that
while in custody he was beaten around the head causing long-term damage to his
hearing, for which Amnesty International was able to obtain independent medical
corroboration. He also alleged that he was subjected to suffocation torture
while forcibly held down on a bench by six police officers at Sigodvweni police
station. Some of his co-defendants made similar allegations of torture by the
police.
‘The presiding High Court judge
hearing their bail application in March 2006 was sufficiently concerned to call
on the government to establish an independent inquiry into their claims. An
inquiry was established under a single commissioner who subsequently reported
his findings to the then Prime Minister. To Amnesty International’s knowledge
this inquiry report was never made public. Mr Jele and his co-defendants had
still not been brought to trial on the treason charge by the time of his
death.’
At the time of Jele’s death, PUDEMO said in a statement, ‘The Swaziland royal
regime has always been giving the international community the wrong information
that political dissenters are not imprisoned, harassed and killed. And that
Swaziland is a peaceful country. But here is a political activist getting
killed for attending Workers Day and wearing a PUDEMO T-shirt.’
Richard Rooney
See also
Swazi Police
disrupts activist's funeral
Activist
funeral – IPS report
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