Three soldiers in Swaziland
/ Eswatini have been charged with assault for burying a man alive after they
accused him of stealing a phone from them.
It happened at Mbekelweni
and is one of many reported cases of soldiers assaulting civilians in the
kingdom.
The Swazi Observer reported on Tuesday (5 June 2018) that the three soldiers
from the Swaziland Umbutfo Defence Force (the official name of the army) had been
drinking at a bar and offered to give a lift home to a resident named Dludlu.
Later they discovered a cellphone was missing. Next day they went to the man’s
home with another man and accused him of theft.
The newspaper reported they
assaulted the man. ‘It is said the soldiers then dragged Dludlu into a pit
which was dug for a pit latrine and threw him inside and placed a corrugated
iron sheet on top,’ it said.
‘While Dludlu was trapped
inside the pit, the soldiers and the other man had a conversation among
themselves as to what they would do with him. It is said some were heard
suggesting that they should just leave him trapped underneath while another
suggested that they set fire on top of the pit with Dludlu underneath.’
The Observer reported Dludlu asked the soldiers to take him to the
police rather than torture him.
‘He said he was told by the
army officials that they were not afraid of the police as they are also law
enforcers hence they will deal with him,’ the newspaper reported.
The soldiers were interrupted
by a phone call and decided ‘to spare Dludlu’s life’, the newspaper added. They
took E300 from his pockets before leaving.
There have been many reports in Swaziland of soldiers
assaulting civilians. In December 2017 they were accused of routinely sexually
assaulting women as they crossed border posts with South Africa.
The Observer on
Saturday reported at the time, ‘The army troops have been accused by women
of abusing their powers by touching them inappropriately as they lay their
hands on their buttocks just to allow to cross either to South Africa or into
Swaziland.
‘Some women when being searched for illegal goods
alleged that they are touched almost everywhere by the male army officers and
these informal crossings.’
The newspaper said the inappropriate behaviour took
place ‘almost every day’ around the Ngwenya informal crossing.
It was one of several reports army misbehaviour at
borders. In July 2017 soldiers reportedly
forced a bus-load of passengers to strip naked after it crossed the Mhlumeni Border Gate into Mozambique. Local media reported it happened
all the time.
The Times
of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper,
reported they were ordered to strip ‘stark naked’ as part of a ‘routine body
search’. The newspaper said the passengers had been on vacation in Mozambique.
In June 2017 it was
reported women at the informal crossing situated next to the Mananga
Border Gate with South Africa were made to remove their underwear so soldiers
could inspect their private parts with a mirror. The Swazi Army said it
happened all the time.
Soldiers were said to be searching for ‘illegal
objects’ using a mirror similar to that used to inspect the underside of cars.
Once the practice became public knowledge, the Army
said it
would continue to strip people and if people did not like it they should stop
crossing the border.
In September 2015, the Swazi Parliament heard that soldiers
beat up old ladies so badly they had to be taken to their homes in
wheelbarrows. Member of Parliament Titus Thwala said that the women were
among the local residents who were regularly beaten by soldiers at informal
crossing points between Swaziland and South Africa.
The assaults are not confined to border areas. In 2011, a man was reportedly beaten with guns and tortured for three hours by soldiers who accused him of showing them disrespect. He was ordered to do press ups, frog jumps and told to run across a very busy road and was beaten with guns every time he tried to resist.
The assaults are not confined to border areas. In 2011, a man was reportedly beaten with guns and tortured for three hours by soldiers who accused him of showing them disrespect. He was ordered to do press ups, frog jumps and told to run across a very busy road and was beaten with guns every time he tried to resist.
His crime was that he tried to talk to a man whose
vehicle was being searched by soldiers at Maphiveni. The man, December
Sikhondze, told the Swazi
Observer at the time, ‘I
only asked for a lift but they told me I was being disrespectful and that I
should have waited for them to finish. They took my cell phone and ordered me
to do press ups.’
In July 2011, three armed soldiers left a
man for dead after he
tried to help a woman they were beating up. And in a separate incident, a woman
was beaten by two soldiers
after she tried to stop them talking to her sister.
He said that he did more than 50 press ups and he was
beaten with guns every time he asked to rest.
See also
ARMY
STRIPS BUS PASSENGERS NAKED
SOLDIERS
INSPECT WOMAN’S PRIVATE PARTS
ARMY
UNREPENTANT ON STRIP SEARCH
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