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NURSES DEMAND APOLOGY, ARREST OF ‘BRUTAL’ COPS

27/10/2021 09:09:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE

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MANZINI – Nurses from some health institutions around Manzini have taken the issue of the recent police brutality to another level as they demand answers within 72 hours, including a public apology from the NATCOM.

This is contained in a petition which was delivered by nurses who are organised under the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), Manzini Region, to the National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police William Tsitsibala Dlamini, through the office of the Manzini regional commissioner. The petition was handed over to the police by the nurses union’s Acting Manzini Regional Secretary Calvin Dlamini and it was titled; ‘Police brutality and bashing of unarmed nurses’.

Brutality

In the petition the nurses said following the recent alleged brutality which was meted to against civil servants and nurses in particular, during what was supposed to be a peaceful march to deliver a petition to the Ministry of Public Service on Wednesday October 20, 2021; as medical practitioners from the Manzini Region, they had some demands to present to the NATCOM. They demanded that the office of the NATCOM should desist from issuing commands that the police should shoot to kill as it was alleged by junior officers. The acting regional secretary claimed that junior officers had allegedly told them that there were orders that were issued and were to the effect that they should shoot to kill.

“We know that the police have underscored last Wednesday because according to information we gathered, they had a target to shoot at least 1 000 people,” the acting regional secretary alleged. When he was pressed further on how and where they got the information that the police allegedly had a target to shoot at least 1 000 people during the civil servants’ march which was stopped by the law enforcers, the acting secretary claimed that they obtained such details from the police, but indirectly. Again, the nurses demanded that the office of the NATCOM should give a comprehensive explanation and issue a public apology to nurses and the public at large and assurance that this would never happen again.

“We demand that the two police officers, who (allegedly) shot two nurses and many other civil servants, be arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder. Failure to implement the above may validate the allegations that your office gave instructions to shoot to kill,” read part of the petition. They also demanded that the NATCOM should stop the summons of nurses from Hlatikhulu Government Hospital to report at the police station. The acting regional secretary claimed that some of their members from Hlatikhulu, who went to register their concerns to the police, were allegedly being intimidated with summons, which invited them to the police station to assist the law enforcers with some information on something they were working on.

Arrest

“We demand the arrest of the police officers who fired tear gas canisters into a bus which was full of healthcare workers at Nkoyoyo last Wednesday. Their conduct was heartless and inhumane,” the nurses said in the petition. On top of that, they demanded professional and ethical reporting from the office of the Police Information and Communications Officer, not the alleged lies and protecting of the ills of the police. They also reminded the NATCOM that the police officer, Sibusiso Bhubesi Shongwe, who was held for allegedly killing their colleague, Dolly Mlangeni, had not been tried in court yet, instead he was working in one of the police stations. Therefore, they demanded justice for Mlangeni.

Moreover, they reminded the NATCOM that the police force should be an organisation for the nation. They added that in their motto, they (police) referred to themselves as a shield for the King and nation, but according to their analysis, the police seemed to be a shield for the King against the nation. They emphasised in the petition that they demanded a public apology and responses to the above demands within 72 hours of receipt of this petition.