COPS WHO ELECTROCUTED TEACHER STILL FREE

MATSAPHA – Over a year later, the police have failed to identify the law enforcers who allegedly electrocuted a teacher with a taser gun on his genital area until he was unconscious.

The teacher, Ayanda Maziya and a colleague, were allegedly assaulted by the police on September 19, 2018 while at Nhlangano town.
After the incident, they both opened cases of assault at Nhlangano Police Station, but to date, both matters have not been concluded or brought to court.

This is despite the evidence which Maziya submitted to the investigation committee members, who probed the alleged police brutality on protesters during demonstrations. Maziya told the committee that when recording the statement with the police, he allegedly told them that he could identify his assailants.
In fact, Manzini Principal Magistrate David Khumalo, who is chairing the committee, said according to Maziya’s evidence, when he was still recording his statement at Nhlangano Police Station, he pointed out one of his alleged assailants.

unrest

The chairman said this after Sidwell Mthembu, a police officer who is based at Nhlangano Police Station, told the court that during the industrial unrest which took place on September 30, 2018, they managed to arrest 12 textile workers.

He said five of the workers were convicted of contravening Section 15 (2) of the Public Order Act 12 of 2017 after they blocked public roads with stones and started a fire, pushed scrap vehicles into the roads and caused chaos by pelting their colleagues, who were working at Zheng Yong, FTM and Juries Factories, with stones. According to Mthembu, each of the five workers from the three textile factories were sentenced to two years imprisonment or pay to E2 000 fine.
Meanwhile, he said the cases of theft and malicious damage to property for the other seven textile workers were still pending in court.

On another note, Mthembu also acknowledged that on September 19, 2018, which was the second day of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) three-day protest action, which was eventually quashed by the police, two teachers opened assault cases against some officers.

identified

The educators, who are members of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), are Maziya and the other one who was identified as Maseko. Mthembu then submitted to the committee that the teachers’ dockets were still pending because it was difficult to identify the police officers who allegedly assaulted the SNAT members. He added that this was because on the day, there were so many police officers in the town (Nhlangano).

“The investigators of the matters have not closed the dockets because they are still trying to talk to all the officers who were deployed in Nhlangano on that day,” he submitted.

However, he pointed out that most of the officers, who had been interviewed by the investigators so far, seem to be not aware of the assault incidents.
Furthermore, Mthethwa submitted that according to the teachers’ statements, the officers who allegedly assaulted them were wearing Operational Support Service Unit (OSSU) uniforms.

“A majority of the officers who were deployed in the town that day were from OSSU because there was an operation,” he submitted.

delivered

It was then that the committee wanted to know why it was taking so long to conclude the teachers’ cases because one of the complainants delivered evidence that he told the officers who recorded his statement that he could identify his assailants and even pointed one of them while still at the police station.
In response, Mthethwa submitted to the committee that he was not aware of the complainant’s submissions because they were not captured in his statement.
“This is news to me,” he added.

He then submitted that maybe the Nhlangano Police Station Commander, Patrick Ginindza, could shed some light regarding the matter.

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