Swazi Observer

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TEACHER SHOT, ARMED TOP COP FLOORED

By Bodwa Mbingo | 2018-08-25

One had to be there to watch and believe this movie-like scene.

A gun-wielding Station Commander Raphael ‘Sikheshekheshe’ Maseko based at the Manzini Police Station was floored by an aggressive teacher during a violent clash while on the other hand an ambulance had to rush one of the teachers, Willie ‘Mawillies’ Dlamini to the nearest hospital after he had received a piercing gunshot wound on his left arm.

The bloody clash was over government’s offer of zero per cent cost of living adjustment (COLA) offer to civil servants that the teachers want to hear none of.

All this unfolded within a twinkle of an eye when an incident in the fashion of the infamous South Africa’s Marikana Massacre that featured police officers and workers under the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) banner played itself out at the entrance of the SNAT Centre yesterday.

The only difference was that there was no death, but the action was there for all to witness as several gunshots were heard and bullets aimed directly at the teachers flew in all directions while stones directed at the police officers also flew the opposite direction.

This was when at least three armed police officers clashed with the teachers on the day.

Head of the Manzini Police Station, Maseko will live to regret his decision to lead only five police officers, with himself and only two more armed with guns, to disburse the teachers that had blocked the road leading to the William Pitcher College.

Stacked

As soon as the senior police officer and his team arrived at the scene they alighted from their cars and headed straight in the direction of the teachers who by then had already stacked some stones next them, while demanding that the police officers not to come closer to them.

While it was not clear who drew the first blood, but within a twinkle of an eye stones were flying in the direction of the police officers while bullets were also flying the opposite direction. The teachers started running towards the SNAT Centre gate while others continued to pelt the police officers with stones.

By this time it was a matter of ducking and diving to evade the weapons coming their way for all parties involved as the situation got uglier by the minute.

As the hard to believe scuffle was still unfolding, a teacher was seen bleeding on his left arm with some of his colleagues assisting him with cleaning the wound with water. It was clear that a bullet had pierced through his arm and first aid was administered to him before an ambulance was called to rush him to the nearest hospital.

While the incident of the teacher being shot was the talk of the fracas, one of the teachers, Maxwell Myeni, in a moment of madness, was seen wrestling with Maseko who had pointed a gun at him.

Myeni managed to wrestle Maseko to the ground before landing on top of him in a scene that appeared like he was throttling him.

However, the senior police officer eventually managed to wrestle the teacher to the side before the other police officers and teachers came forward to separate them. Observers praised Maseko for restraining himself and avoided pulling the trigger in the scuffle.

Maseko just picked up his cap from the floor, partly dusted himself up and continued with trying to maintain law and order. By then the teachers had reorganised themselves and were back on the road, moving forward while the police officers were retreating.

They had their hands up in the air as if to show the officers that they were unarmed. Soon after ‘Mawillies’ had received first aid, he was seen again arguing with one of the plain clothed officers while directing him to shoot him on the forehead. The outnumbered police officers retreated towards the direction of Manzini Central Primary School gate, but soon thereafter, things changed again.

This was after the arrival of the unyielding members of the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU), which is the police’s semi-military wing. The outnumbered police officers had obviously called for back-up with the roping in of the no-nonsense OSSU officers.

They arrived to take control of the situation and that is when the teachers themselves started retreating as they entered the SNAT Centre gate.

However, the police had not seen the last of being pelted with stones as the teachers continued, resulting in another officer retreating from the warzone while bleeding from the head. SNAT leaders were seen trying to calm the situation by engaging the police officers and seeking an amicable solution.

This movie-like situation played itself out for just over 30 minutes – non-stop.

However, the entire situation leading to the fracas started just around 10:30am when a group of teachers gathered on the William Pitcher road to sing and chant slogans ahead of their meeting that had been scheduled to commence at 10am at the SNAT Centre.

They were soon to block the entire road while burning some garbage at the centre of the road and singing and dancing around the fire. Some motorists, especially kombi operators that service Fairview North route, had to turn back and seek other routes to make their way to and from the city centre.

Some motorists that were patient enough were eventually allowed to squeeze their cars through the crowd.

The first police officers to arrive at the scene were those from the traffic department and soon as they realised the volatility of the demonstration they directed cars to turn back and not move towards the teachers, albeit from a distance.

The situation appeared under control until the arrival of the team of five police officers.

Aspiring teachers watch from distance

Although numerous calls were made to aspiring teachers that are currently studying at the William Pitcher College to come and join the SNAT members in their demonstration along the road, they were just content with watching from a distance.

In the comfort of the College’s premises the students watched as their future colleague sang and danced while demanding that government changes its mind over the zero per cent COLA offer to civil servants. Some of the teachers were heard shouting that they are fixing things even for future teachers while pointing in the direction of William Pitcher students who were watching the incident keenly from a distance.

The William Pitcher College offers courses in primary and secondary teachers’ diplomas in Applied Sciences (Agriculture and Consumer Science), Education (Professional Studies), Languages (English, Academic Communication Skills, French and SiSwati), Practical Arts (Art and Craft, Music and Physical Education), Sciences (Information and Communication Technology, Mathematics and Science) as well as Social Studies (Geography, History and Religious Education).

TUCOSWA announces 4-day strike leading to elections

Another national strike styled Waya Waya and known for grounding all activities will hit the country next month.

Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) yesterday confirmed that they have planned to stage a four-day strike next month in the week leading to the national elections slated for September 21,2018.

Some observers have already viewed this as some form of sabotage to the ongoing elections especially since activities and services are set to be grounded for the four days before the secondary elections.

TUCOSWA Secretary General and former SNAT executive committee member Muzi Mhlanga yesterday told teachers that the planned dates to stage the nationwide strike are 17 to 20 August.

He said they have already written to the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) to inform them that they plan to stage the strike on the above dates.

He said the board had not replied to their letter yet as the minister had directed them so after telling them that their term had elapsed. “However, the minister has since added another 12 months to their term after we received a letter to that regard hence we will be meeting them on the 28th of this month. For the four days things will grind to a halt until all the wrong things in this country are fixed,” he said.

We won’t open schools - Teachers

The opening of schools for the third term on September 11, is now in limbo.

This is after teachers have vowed not to return to class until government hears their pleas to get back to the negotiations table and table an offer as opposed to the ‘laughable’ 0.00 per cent Cost of Living Adjustment (CoLA) that it is offering to civil servants across the board.

The teachers, in an unprecedented move, have further threatened not to administer external examinations for their pupils, arguing that even if government can bring aboard members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) to administer these examinations no one would be available to mark the pupils’ scripts.

While government is offering the 0.00 per cent, the teachers, on the other hand, want 6.55 per cent. The teachers were yesterday in unison calling for the non-opening of schools next month with most declaring that they have been pushed into a tight corner and are left with no other option than to close the schools.

They argued that it is a fallacy that government has no money when considering how the very government spends money, especially on the prime minister’s retirement home now popularly known as lidlokolo.

SNAT President Freedom Dlamini when addressing the teachers, lamented the predicament they were currently in and further lamented what he termed money wastage that is there for all to see in the country while government continues to bluff them with statements that there is no money. Updating them on the CoLA negotiations, Dlamini first apologised to the members for failure to return to them with an update as they had been given a deadline of August 10, to have winded up the negotiations.

He blamed everything on government which he said is doing everything in its power to buy time by constantly asking postponements to consult with their principals.

“We were expecting a realistic offer from the government team that would then come with mitigations. However, all we got was a 0.00 per cent offer and we were quick to stop them from adding more zeroes as more zeroes would make the offer even more inferior. We have seen that government just doesn’t want to negotiate with us because if at least they had made an offer, we would be talking about a deadlock. Following countless adjournments to consult with their mandate givers, they still returned with the same sham of an offer,” stated Dlamini.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

Loti Jesus (Siteki Branch) – It’s not true that there’s no money. Imagine if your child can ask you to buy him shoes and you tell them that you don’t have money then the following day you return home very drunk. It’s just a fallacy and misinformation that there is no money in the country.

Mbongwa Dlamini (Manzini Branch) – Our executive should not take the issue of our comrade who was shot today lightly. We know the police officer that shot him and where he’s from.

Loti Jesus (Siteki Branch) – We know already that there are comrades that have already betrayed us. They have scored an own goal. If they are serving in our committees, we will remove them and replace them with nothing.

Mduduzi Mncina (Mhlume Branch) – We’ve been pushed to a corner and we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. For the first time in this country, there will be no external examinations administered. We’re not budging until our demands are met.

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