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By Bongiwe Dlamini | 2020-08-03
DRAMA unfolded when non-uniformed police officers allegedly fired a shot, severely assaulted and insulted Murray Camp residents who were believed to have been imbibing in alcohol.
This happened at the location just outside the Manzini City on Saturday at around 4pm. Eyewitnesses alleged that the police officers are those under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) based at the Manzini Police Station. According to Ndumiso Lukhele (27), a witness to the incident, they were sitting under a tree at a certain homestead when a male approached them and ordered that they should not stand up and should remove their hats.
One of the four men asked who the male was to issue orders but there was no response save for an esteemed slap on the face.
The beaten resident reportedly retaliated before he took off.
The male, who was later discovered to be a police officer, reportedly pursued the resident and he tripped him over before he kicked him countless times on the abdomen.
The resident’s pleas for the officer to stop fell on deaf ears as kicks and insults kept coming.
Meanwhile, other police officers, some of whom were in uniform, approached and some of them reportedly joined in the attack against the residents. When this was done, the officers allegedly claimed that they were sent by Chief Gija.
“One of us asked a lady, one Kayise, who was approaching to document what was happening using her phone but before she could react the police pounced at her as well,” said Lukhele.
The man who was allegedly turned into a kicking ball reportedly suffered internal injuries as he ended up urinating blood.
The police from Fairview North Police Post are said to have refused to write him a letter which he would produce in hospital stating how he got injured.
Kayise echoed Lukhele’s account by adding that the police insulted her and ordered that she should not record what was happening.
When she told them that she did nothing the officers allegedly grabbed her cellphone to check if she had not recorded what they were doing. However, she said her phone was not returned to her so when the police eventually arrested three of the male residents whom they assaulted, Kayise demanded her phone.
This did not sit well with the officers whom the residents identified, so they started kicking her on her stomach and abdomen.
When she had her back turned, an officer fired a shot but missed her and soon thereafter he placed the hot gun on her back.
When all this happened, Kayise’s mother and other residents watched helplessly. The torture did not end there as the officers allegedly pursued Kayise until she was at her homestead where one male officer stripped her half-naked while he hurled insults at her.
All six police officers reportedly took turns kicking her on her stomach and abdomen. She and three others were taken to the Fairview Police Post where they were made to pay E260 each for supposedly breaking COVID-19 regulations and obstructing the police while on duty before being released.
After experiencing some abdominal pains at night, Kayise said the Fairview North police officers refused to give her a form to produce in hospital before being treated until 1am after she called the Emergency Medical Services Department (977).
Unable to stomach the sight of what the police did to her daughter, Kayise’s mother intervened and ordered that they should shoot her instead and a verbal showdown ensued.
This altercation was witnessed by a community policeman only identified as Khoza who introduced himself to the police and asked what was going on.
“I was insulted, kicked, slapped and degraded in front of everyone here,” said Khoza.
He added that he does not imbibe in alcohol and from what he witnessed, no one attacked the police but it was the other way round. The community policeman said he was shocked to see how the police treated citizens, especially the Murray Camp residents.
Instead of protecting them and working collaboratively with them to end crime, Khoza said the police were ruthless and unruly.
Further, Khoza stated that this was not the first time that the police attacked Murray Camp residents as earlier this year, foreigners residing there were attacked and told to pay for being illegally in the country. Till this date, a Mozambican man hopes to get back his money that was illegally taken by police officers in his house which they said was payment for not possessing documents permitting their stay in the country.
Meanwhile Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Superintendent Phindile Vilakati denied that the police attacked the Murray Camp residents. Instead, she said the residents were the ones who attacked the officers who then applied minimum force.
“Those people were imbibing and when the police told them to stop they launched an attack,” Vilakati said.
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