JUNIOR COPS ON VISIT TO PM’S HOME: WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS

NHLAMBENI - “We are not terrorists but visited our minister to explain to him why we are important as this is a question he asked in Parliament.”

This was a statement made by some junior Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) officers, after about 20 of them paid a visit to the private residence of the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, in Nhlambeni yesterday morning, something which has sparked a debate among many.
The PM doubles as the Minister of Police. The group of police officers, who are aggrieved over Phase II of the salary restructuring exercise, started gathering as early as 6:30am along the Nhlambeni-Sidvokodvo stretch of the Yithabantu Highway. The officers, who were driving personal vehicles, parked their cars on the off-ramp towards Nhlambeni Nazarene Primary School.

Changed

At around 7am, they changed their civics wear to police regalia. At about 8:50am, the officers then drove in a cavalcade, for about five kilometres, to the private residence of the PM. The convoy of the junior officers was formed by six sedans. Upon arrival at the residence of the premier, which was at about 9:04am, the junior officers alighted from their vehicles and started shouting traditional salutations. The officers said: “Sikhulekile ekhaya Nkhosi. Sesikhona site kuwe.” This is simply a traditional salutation of an unexpected guest. The junior officers were addressed by about five fellow police officers, who peeped through the wall fence and informed them that the PM was not present at the residence.

Shouting

This resulted in the law enforcers shouting that they would be back at the residence as they were there to seek what belonged to them. When leaving at about 9:09am, some of the officers shouted that they would continue with their quest for Phase II. This visit lasted not more than five minutes as the officers drove off thereafter in a different route, which was seemingly a ruse to avert officers from the para-military wing of REPS, the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU).

The OSSU officers had been in a nearby bush, which is about 500 metres away from the residence of the premier, from 6am. They were occasionally joined by other vehicles from their camp, which is about 10 kilometres from the premier’s homestead. At some point, the OSSU officers were joined by others from the Matsapha Police Station’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for almost two hours.

Watching

During the period when the junior officers were at the gate of the PM’s home, the OSSU officers were watching from a distance. There was also a drone which was used to capture the proceedings by police officers who were travelling in an unmarked white Isuzu double cab bakkie. The OSSU officers left the bush where they had been stationed for over three hours when the junior police officers left. They drove towards the main road where they were joined by others carrying assault rifles. While still engaging each other, the cavalcade of the junior officers, which had seemingly taken a different route, drove past them.

Converged

The junior officers drove back to where they had converged, before driving to the PM’s private residence, where they changed to their casual wear again before addressing the media. When addressing the media, the junior police officers said they were at the verge of disregarding their oath as they were being treated unfairly by government and their superiors regarding the eight-year wait for the implementation of Phase II of the salary restructuring exercise. Some of the low ranking police officers said their uninvited visit to the residence of the premier was to respectfully elucidate their importance to him as this was a question which came up in the august House.

The junior officers said they were important because they provided security to the country and to high ranking government officials, including him, as they also guarded his residences and everywhere he went. “We are killed because they say we protect him and the State and the security he has at his residence is also aggrieved and our colleagues,” the officers said. The junior officers said they had also visited his homestead as they knew that Dlamini was the Minister of Police as well.

The low ranking officers who were part of the visit said they would return to the premier’s residence to forward the same message, which they had communicated with their colleagues and knew that it would be shared with him. The officers further said they had decided to visit the private residence of the premier because there was a court order interdicting them from marching to Cabinet. It is worth noting that the court order interdicted junior officers from marching to Cabinet on October 18, 2022. The National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police, William Tsitsibala Dlamini and Commissioner General (COMGEN) of His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) Phindile Dlamini, filed an urgent application stopping the march and it was granted by Judge Nkosinathi Maseko at 2:30am the subsequent day. The respondents in the matter were the Police Staff Association and HMCS Staff Association.

Meanwhile, yesterday the junior officers claimed that in siSwati culture, when an individual was owed something, the individual owed had the right to pay a courtesy call and engage on when the outstanding debt would be settled. Furthermore, they said: “We are not terrorists or progressives but are just junior officers and that is why we are wearing our uniform. We are not in this for politics such that if our superiors attend to our needs, we shall not bother them.” However, the officers claimed that if their needs would not be met, there was a high possibility that they would start resisting taking orders.

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