Swazi Observer

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COPS, ARMY SOCIAL MEDIA WARNING

By OBSERVER REPORTERS | 2022-11-17

Mbabane -The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) have warned the nation against posting sensitive and misleading information on social media, which perpertrate violence.

The safety and security institutions said some of the information shared on social media was malicious and designed to mislead the nation and sow unrest.

Both the army and police raised concerns about the safety of police and soldiers, who they said were at risk of being attacked as a result of misleading and insensitive information.

National Commissioner of Police (NatCom), William Dlamini, warned the public to be wary of people who perpetuate their agenda of entrenching anarchy in the country using social media.
Dlamini was reacting to reports on Facebook, suggesting that some police officers were aligned with certain activities amid the political tensions experienced in the country.

The police chief noted with concern these malicious circulating reports on social media, particularly Facebook, stating that such information was not only misleading but designed to sow discord thus exposing the implicated officers to risks.

REPS has lost a number of officers in recent times through shootings by unknown people while in their line of duty.

“There are accounts that publish misleading information, aligning police officers with certain activities. This information is not only misleading but aims to sow discord and exposes the implicated officers to risks. The REPS condemns such acts in the strongest possible terms as the information being circulated is untrue and only meant to instigate violence against the officers,” Dlamini stated.

The NatCom further stated that the posts on social media were merely a strategy against police officers perpetrated by those with ulterior motives as the named officers were not part of the detailed battalion on the day in question. This comes after posts were published on social media platforms suggesting that there were undercover police officers and soldiers targeting citizens.

In another post, the identity of a police officer who is alleged to have fired a teargas canister into a bus carrying people during the political unrest last year was revealed.

“We appeal to members of the public to exercise reasoning and refrain from entertaining baseless rumours and instructions that carry a malicious intent towards members of the police service,” he said.

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Dlamini said officers were not the enemy but were servants of the public who worked towards fulfilling their constitutional mandate of maintaining law and order while fostering safety and security of the nation.

UEDF Public Relations Officer, Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo cautioned the nation against misusing social media platforms to perpetrate violence against some members of the army.

Khumalo said this was through posting inaccurate information such as the identities of the soldiers presumed to be present during certain operations.

She said it had come to their attention that certain miscreant individuals took advantage of the current situation by misusing social media to perpetrate violence against some members of the UEDF because of personal differences.

This she said had been observed on various occasions.
“There is a tendency of spreading untrue identification of the soldiers during a particular operation for reason known to them,” she said.

Khumalo said pictures of their members were posted, untruthfully, associated and aligned with serious accusations, among others, of shooting incidents while the implicated soldiers were not part of that particular day’s operation.

She said one recent incident involved a soldier identified as Dlamini, who as a result had been exposed to danger by the perpetrators.

Khumalo said Dlamini was currently at the training battalion, who on the day like all the others carried on with his duties and there was totally no way he could have then been deployed to the Mbabane operation last Thursday.

“On another note, it is equally imperative and noted with great concernment also to caution Emaswati on those who masquerade as soldiers and deployed by the EUDF on particular operations in full gazetted army gear,” she said.

Khumalo said recently, as reported by one of the local newspapers, certain suspects were nabbed by one law enforcement agency in possession of the stolen army camouflage uniform, which is suspected to have been abused among other gains for illicit practices.

“Having said that, the UEDF strongly condemns such inappropriate deportment which shall result in the law taking its course in criminality of this nature as intense investigations are ongoing,” said Khumalo.

Further, she said it should be noted that it was a criminal offence to be found in possession of the army uniform if one was not a member of the establishment.

Khumalo said the UEDF reassure of its commitment to defend and protect the Kingdom of Eswatini, its people and national sovereignty.

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