RULING PUTS OUR LIVES IN DANGER - DEPUTY SHERIFFS

MBABANE – Deputy sheriffs fear for their lives after the ruling by Judge Mumcy Dlamini, that there were no justifiable grounds for engaging the police for assistance when executing orders.

According to some deputy sheriffs, it will be near impossible to execute some orders without the assistance of the police in accompanying them to execute the orders, as in some cases, they find themselves in violent situations. A sheriff or deputy sheriff serves or executes all documents issued by courts. These include summonses, notices, warrants and court orders. This was in response to a judgment by Judge Mumcy Dlamini, where she found that there were no justifiable grounds for litigants in civil matters to seek orders against the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) in order to execute or assist a deputy sheriff to carry out orders either from Swazi Law and Customs courts or common law courts.

Judgment

Judge Dlamini wondered why the national commissioner of the REPS or his subordinates were ordered to execute a civil judgment at the cost of the public fund. “An observed tendency is that litigants, in order to avoid execution costs, tend to join the national commissioner of police for purposes of execution. They disregard that their conduct digs deeper into the taxpayer’s pocket and the police are already overstretched in their mandate,” said Judge Dlamini.  She pointed out that litigants cited the national commissioner of police for execution of civil orders under the guise that police had a duty to prevent anarchy or crime in the event there was resistance during the execution of the said order. “However, sheriffs and their deputies ought not to be just men and women of feeble structure. They ought to be well-trained and fully equipped for their offices. This is so that when they are met with resistance in the discharge of their duties, they can lawfully deal with it,” said the court.

The judge said there was, therefore, no justifiable grounds for litigants in civil matters to seek orders against the national commissioner of police or his subordinates in order to execute or assist the sheriff to execute orders either from the Swazi Law and Custom courts or common law courts. Speaking on condition of anonymity, several deputy sheriffs were engaged on this particular subject to ascertain whether the new conditions would be favourable to them, and how they would be protecting themselves when executing orders now that police were out of the picture. The deputy sheriffs were further questioned on whether they had previously encountered any violence while executing orders.

“My take on that ruling is that, I think the judge became emotional here, the country is trying to curb violence among citizens, and the police are there to prevent that from happening, having said that, the ruling requires us as deputy sheriffs to acquire tools for our protection and also puts us at risk because most people now have guns, by us acquiring guns this will fuel the violence,” said *Ray Mathonsi. According to Mathonsi, every day they came across violent situations, but because they were unarmed, there was usually a common ground that was reached without anyone getting hurt, with the intervention of the police. “Another one is that we might have to hire security and it will become costly for the people that are being owed and you’ll find that they must pay for it before we go for execution,” lamented Mathonsi.

Involvement

Another deputy sheriff, *Lethumusa Qwabe, said his interpretation of the judgment was that there was no justifiable ground to seek an order that would interdict the involvement of the police in assisting a deputy sheriff. He said not all court orders required assistance of the police. “Most of the time orders where police are cited is where there is a possible threat, or implementation of the order may trigger violence, for example, demolishing of structures and stopping a funeral, among others. Well, I have encountered violence in the line of duty, fortunately for me the police were cited in the matter and they were present so they were able to manage the situation,” said Qwabe. He said the ruling warranting them to use their own expertise to protect themselves was wanting.

“The issue of guns is a very tricky one. It is not safe to draw or use a firearm on an angry mob, especially if you are alone. That might even be the end of you. Even if you are successful in repelling the attack, you now have a case to answer to, especially if there are casualties. In short, without the involvement of the police, it will be impossible to implement some court orders,” he said.

Assistance

Meanwhile, another deputy sheriff, *William Makukula, said the judgment was correct, they should undergo some training on how to deal with orders as they now heavily relied on police assistance.  “The court was right, deputy sheriffs should not just be men and women of feeble structure, they should be trained on how to defend themselves in the event they are met with resistance.  It is also true that police are overstretched in their mandate,” said Makukula. He further said deputy sheriffs should also be clad in uniform so that members of the public could easily identify them. “I personally have experienced being attacked by people who did not know what a deputy sheriff was and who felt when I came to execute orders I was invading their privacy. I think the judgement by Judge Mumcy was an eye opener for us,” said Makukula. Siphiwo Masuku, Acting Supreme Court Registrar, who is also the Acting Sheriff, when reached for comment, said she was still to study Judge Dlamini’s judgment and further engage. She had been questioned about the concerns raised by some deputy sheriffs regarding the judgment.

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