DESTITUTE STARVE AS POLICE ARREST HELPER

MBABANE – Some people who were set to benefit from food cooked by a good Samaritan, Khulekani Msweli, were left starving after police arrested him.

After the incident, Msweli wrote an open letter to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku seeking his intervention.
He was writing to him in his capacity as head of a department that looks into the welfare of the vulnerable and also as head of the National Disaster Task Agency inclined in COVID-19 effects.

Msweli claimed that he had gone to purchase foodstuffs in order to prepare meals and dish these out to residents of Vuvulane who are living in poverty.
He said he was fined E60 by the police who further turned him back despite that he had explained the purpose of his trip and offered to give them all the evidence.

Msweli said the police insisted on a letter from the local inkhundla, which unfortunately was closed.
He said this incident made him conclude that government truly did not care about the poor.

“It is unfortunate that I’m writing such a long letter that is an awareness reflection of an incident that occurred to me today (April 30, 2020), causing me to cry, be traumatised and filled with pain that I have never felt before.”

Bought

He said he went to Tshaneni because it was the nearest place where they could buy food.
“With all due respect to all COVID-19 regulations, at approximately 9:45am, I was critically compelled to drive (alone), with my face mask and sanitiser nearby to buy food for the poverty-stricken children of Vuvulane, as it was meant to be cooked and distributed today, through the Vuvulane OVC Outreach Foundation.”

He said he came across a road- block where the police took his temperature with a reading of 36.4C.
Msweli said they asked him where he was coming from and where he was going and he explained that he was from Vuvulane going to Boxer supermarket to buy food for vulnerable children.

“The police officer requested to see a letter, from indvuna, granting me permission, to travel to the grocery store and I told him that I do not have the aforementioned letter because our Mhlume Inkhundla was closed, thus no one was there to write out letters.”

Dragged

He said when the policeman walked away, he continued to Tshaneni where just upon arrival, a police car with three policemen came towards his car.

“One of the policemen dragged me out of the car and commanded me to get into the police car. That particular policeman happened to be the policeman that had taken my temperature at the nearby roadblock. He said that I had defied his orders, which he claims were that he had told me to return to Vuvulane and not proceed to Tshaneni, which of course he had not said such to me.”

He further said he was ushered into the police car by one of the other policemen while the officer who accused him drove his (Msweli) car ahead of the police car to Tshaneni Police Station.

Desperation

“Throughout that ordeal, I was consistently trying to explain to them that my shop visit was out of desperation to feed children that are at the brink of survival, but none of my pleas were adhered to. The other policeman, who was said to be their superior, said they must just go and lock me up.”

He said he broke down and pleaded with them to have mercy on those who depended on the food that he was going to buy.
“To them, I was just as good as a criminal and deserved to be locked away for caring for others. The accusing policeman eventually fined me E60. I paid on the spot using money which was donated and meant to buy food for the neediest members of my community.”

He said the government cannot claim to be saving lives yet children might die of hunger not COVID-19.
“To criminalise, harass and humiliate those that are stepping in, where government is surely failing, is beyond belief. Is the Government of Eswatini on a mission to kill all poor people?

Your Excellency, as much as I fought back until I eventually bought all the food that was needed, the fact remains that the Government of Eswatini, through its police unit, has ‘stolen’ an impoverished child’s E60, which was meant to buy their food. That E60 was meant to buy food that equates to at least two meals but two children were denied those meals.

“Just like most affluent members of our society, I could have easily turned a blind eye to the extreme hunger that the children of Vuvulane are facing and blissfully isolated myself within the luxurious oasis of my gated home, and not face the police trauma, but the humanity within me said no.

Arrested

“The irony of it all is that particular decision nearly got me arrested, which would have been the first arrest of my life, because I simply cared enough for the poor.”

Msweli attached a short video clip of a Vuvulane resident who is on a wheelchair and living with two grandchildren, whom he had gone to notify that cooked food would be brought to her and her grandchildren.

The open letter attracted comments from people who sympathised with him and called for the police to sometimes be reasonable and use their discretion to assess specific situations.

Deputy Police Information and Communication Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said the police were all out to enforce the COVID-19 regulations.
“People are welcome to report their grievances at the nearest police station,” she said.

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