Cop is beaten up by 4 colleagues
REPORTS BY MAQHAWE NXUMALO
MANANGA – Residents of this area in the North East of the country, along the border with South Africa, were shocked to witness on-duty police officers pouncing on one of their colleagues and assaulting him.
This incident happened on a Wednesday, two weeks ago.
The officer who was assaulted is Mciniseli Mahlalela and is based at the Mbabane Police Station.
Mananga is his parental home area, and he had gone there to visit as he was off duty.
According to Bernard Malindzisa, a friend to Mahlalela, they were sitting under a tree and listening to music, which was playing in Mahlalela’s new car, when a police arrived and an altercation started.
Malindzisa said there were four policemen when Mahlalela was assaulted.
"Mahlalela had come to show us his new car, a Golf 4, and we were relaxing when the police van passed us and stopped some distance away from us. Four officers alighted from the van and approached us. The driver remained in the vehicle and reversed it to where we were sitting," Malindzisa claimed.
He said only one of the officers, a Sergeant Nkambule, was dressed in uniform while the rest were in plain clothes.
"When they got to us they asked who the owner of the Golf was and Mahlalela said it was his.
"Since it was new it did not have a registration number but it had the temporary registration paper on the rear window.
"They noted that the registration paper had expired and requested to search the car," Malindzisa said.
"He said Mahlalela responded that he had personal issues with one of the officers and, therefore, requested that only Sergeant Nkambule search his car.
"As soon as Mahlalela said this, the police officers started to shove him and one officer (name known but withheld) shoved him all the way into the back of the van. They then asked to search the rest of us and we obliged, and they also went ahead and searched the car as well," he said.
Malindzisa said, once they were done they told them that they would be back with another police officer who would be able to drive the car to the police station, and they drove off with Mahlalela in the back of the van.
He said a few minutes later they returned with another police officer who however had a problem getting the car to start.
"They then went to the back of the van, opened it and Mahlalela stepped out. I couldn’t hear what was said there but what I saw were the two officers (names known but withheld) repeatedly punching Mahlalela and they pushed him into the van again and I could not see what was happening inside," Malindzisa said.
He said the police left again, only to return again with a female police officer (name known but withheld) who was able to start the car.
Also present during the interview with Malindzisa was Sabelo Mahlalela, another eye-witness, who corroborated everything that Malindzisa said.
Sabelo is related to Mciniseli, and he also produced the bloodied and torn T-shirt Mciniseli was wearing on the day.
He then told us that, from the scene of the assault, Mciniseli, though injured, was driven to the Tshaneni Police Station where he was charged with three counts.
He said he was charged with possession of 0.07 grammes of dagga, worth E10, driving an unregistered motor vehicle and resisting arrest.
Sabelo said Mciniseli was taken to the Simunye Magistrate’s Court on the following day, where he was released on his own recognisance.
"Since then, Mciniseli has been in and out of hospital because of the injuries he sustained," Sabelo said.
When Mciniseli was sought for comment, he declined, stating that police regulations do not allow him to communicate with the media.
Cops got physical, says police PRO
MBABANE – Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Wendy Hleta, admits that the police officers got physical with their colleague, she said this was because he resisted arrest.
"Police officers do not go around assaulting people, but they have a mandate to effect arrests when the law has been broken.
"The same piece of legislation that gives that mandate also gives them the authority to use minimum force where a suspect refuses to be arrested," Hleta said.
She said her office was aware of Mciniseli Mahlalela’s case, and she said, according to the information on her desk, Mahlalela resisted arrest and the arresting officers employed minimum force.
Hleta refused to entertain anything that Mahlalela’s friends had to say about the events on that day, saying whatever they have to say should be said in court.
　
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