EXILED EX-WARDER: WE HAVE BEEN NEGLECTED, STARVING

MBABANE – ‘‘He must come back home.’’

His Majesty Correctional Services (HMCS) has called for its former employee Bhekani Magagula to come back home and volunteer information to the police. Through a Facebook live stream, the self-confessed exiled struggle stalwart made serious allegations that at the height of the political unrest in 2021, officers at HMCS would leave with at least 20 rounds of ammunition each when going out to the field and they would return with none.

Registry

Magagula said he knew this because he was exposed to the registry book, where records of each officer’s ammunition before leaving for duty and after duty were kept. He alleged that the perception that HMCS officers were not participating in the killing of emaSwati at the height of the political unrest was wrong and he claimed that they equally participated. When supporting this allegation, the former warder narrated that each time the officers went out with the loaded guns; they would return with no bullets, an indication that they had used the ammunition to kill emaSwati. “MaSwati, don’t buy into the thinking that warders were not participating in the killings of emaSwati during the unrest, they were equally carrying out the killings,” he alleged.

Magagula said he did not regret leaving HMCS, because he would have resigned anyway, given the allegations he was putting forward, which he said was not sitting well with him. “I did not just leave my employment, but I could not stand and watch while the people I was working for were involved in the killing of innocent emaSwati,” he alleged. Magagula also shared that the exiled struggle stalwarts he was with were actually starving and would sometimes go for a week without eating. He pinned this on a leader of a political formation, whom he did not mention by name, only referring to him as ‘Bhabuli’. Magagula said it was all merry when they reached South Africa (SA), having escaped from Eswatini as they were warmly welcomed by the leader.

He alleged the leader was a recipient of money from donors who were financially supporting the struggle and the funding was intended to ensure that the struggle stalwarts were well taken care of. He alleged that on their arrival, they were residing at the leader’s camp and they were about 16 of them at the time. However, he asserted that the leader did not use the money as intended, but focused on his personal life and neglected the struggle soldiers, so much that they had to leave his camp where they were residing and find an alternative place to stay.

Comrades

“It was about 16 of us initially, but the number has decreased to eight. We are all alive and well but I can tell you that the ‘comrades’ are starving and they sometimes go a week without eating,” he said. Magagula said the only thing that kept him going was that he had found something to do, that was bringing him income, but the others were struggling to make ends meet.
This was not the first time such information was shared as the allegation of starvation by the so-called struggle stalwarts was once made by one of the members of the solidarity forces, who was in exile in SA but later apprehended by police. He made the assertion while making his appearance in court.

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