Times Of Swaziland: COMMUNITY POLICE BEAT PUPIL (6) OVER STOLEN CELLPHONE - AUNT

COMMUNITY POLICE BEAT PUPIL (6) OVER STOLEN CELLPHONE - AUNT
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Stanley Khumalo on 17/06/2019 08:45:00


GUNDVWINI – A family has been left distraught after a six-year-old was
severely thrashed at school over a stolen cellphone.
An aunt to the minor, Sibongile Dlamini, (40) expressed anger and disappointment
at the manner in which her nephew was allegedly punished at the school. Dlamini
said her nephew *Simo (six), was accused of stealing a mobile phone belonging to
a teacher at his school, Ethembeni Primary. The school is located in the dusty
community of Gundvwini, which is a community in the south of the Manzini Region
under Mtfongwaneni Constituency. The teacher is alleged to have lost the phone
over a week ago, on a Thursday and the aunt relayed that she was informed about
it the following day, which was a Friday (June 7, 2019).
Stolen
Dlamini said she received a call from the school informing her that Simo had
allegedly stolen a teacher’s phone from her handbag. Infuriated by this act of
thievery reported about her nephew, Dlamini said she enquired from Simo upon his
return from school on the allegations. “I asked him and he said he was given a
phone by a fellow pupil to keep and he did that by stuffing it in his pocket,”
Dlamini said. However, Dlamini said this response came after Simo had allegedly
been thrashed by a community police member.  She said the pupil informed her
that he had been taken to the mountains and had his private parts squeezed
before being ordered to undress. After undressing, she said Simo was allegedly
thrashed a number of times with a stick on his bare buttocks.
According to Dlamini, this is a narration she received from Simo, who was
visibly in pain. To her, the pain was visible in the sense that when it was
bedtime, Simo would complain that his siblings were hurting him as they shared a
bed. Dlamini said following that she had been informed of the misdemeanour on a
Friday, she went to the school last Monday to find out more on the accusation
levelled against her nephew. Upon arrival at the school, Dlamini said she did
not find the head teacher and had to return home with the hope that she would
make another attempt the following day. The school is about 10 kilometres from
her homestead.