SHOCKING CRIMES ROCKING ESWATINI

Let us begin with a quick disclaimer. I am fully aware of the presumption of innocence doctrine when a person is charged with a crime.

One is always presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law. That is why I will be using the arrest of two State security officers for alleged rape merely as examples.
We were all shocked on Wednesday when newspaper headlines announced the arrest of a police officer for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl. The officer is 39. It is alleged that he maintained a sexual relationship with the minor, who was not capable of appreciating any act of a sexual nature, and exposed her to sexually transmitted illnesses.

Not only was the minor allegedly raped, but she is said to be pregnant as a result. With these alleged actions, he is accused of contravening the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act, 2018. The suspect is not only an officer of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) but also a member of the Serious Crime Unit (Lukhozi), an elite team of investigators who investigate serious crimes. Officers from this unit enjoy a status of respectability even within their own organisation. They are naturally expected to maintain a higher level of integrity.

Survivor

This is not to say other police officers have the leeway to break the law now and again. Hardly 24 hours after the Lukhozi officer’s case was reported, the following day’s newspaper also carried a similar headline. This time, a 37-year-old officer of His Majesty’s Correctional Services was in the news for the wrong reason. It is alleged that he raped the 16-year-old daughter of his housemate. This means the survivor is the daughter of a fellow Correctional Services officer.  The warder-turned-suspect is also accused of contravening the SODV Act.
Lord, help us if these officers are eventually found guilty because that would mean we are not safe from the very same law enforcers who are supposed to apprehend those who commit such crimes. Now, there are striking similarities between these two cases.

In the police officer’s case, there was an attempt by his colleagues in the REPS to ensure that he was shielded from public scrutiny when he appeared at the Mbabane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. He was allowed to leave court through the backdoor, while other accused persons use the main entrance. We all know he is still presumed innocent, but when he appears in court, isn’t he supposed to be treated like all other suspects?

What were his officers insinuating by giving him special treatment? One hopes this does not mean they believe he is being wrongly arraigned, as that would mean they have already ‘concluded’ the case and will not bother doing any proper investigations. Another kind of ‘kid glove’ treatment was also witnessed in the case of the accused Correctional Services officer. It is alleged that the rape occurred on November 2023, but only now, 11 months later, has he appeared in court.

It was reported that after the minor he allegedly raped reported the incident to her parents, the matter was promptly reported to the police. However, he was not immediately arrested.
His superiors at Correctional Services transferred him from Mdutjane Juvenile Prison to the Big Bend correctional facility. Of course, as the employer, the department’s hands were tied if no charges had been preferred against the accused officer.

Thorough investigations have to be conducted before an arrest is made, but why does it take a few days or even hours for some SODV suspects to be arrested and several months for others? As for the transfer, what if the warder is found guilty? It would mean the minor children in the Big Bend correctional facility were put in harm’s way. Also, was it a coincidence that the two security officers appeared in court in the same week, almost on the same day?

If this was not serendipity, then something is happening within the REPS. Who are we to trust if those who are meant to uphold the law are allegedly breaking it themselves. Shame on you, officers, for shielding your fellow Lukhozi police officer from journalists’ cameras and sneaking him out the back door the day he appeared in court. Did you think of how the victim and her parents felt when they saw that? It was as good as condoning the alleged act; one day, it may be your daughters’.Think about that. It is not just my imagination that we are seeing more arrests for various crimes these days.Even the Mobile Money (MoMo) syndicate that was blown wide open this past week, with the arrest of 19 suspects, has been around for years.
More than E2.4 million has been stolen from MoMo and bank customers just this year alone, suggesting that the police were too slow to act against this crime.

Arrests

It beats me how people who use mobile phones to con others get away with it when the service providers and the police are supposed to work hand in hand immediately after such a crime is reported. Does this refreshing wave of arrests have anything to do with the new broom in National Commissioner Vusi Manoma Masango, sweeping clean? If that is the case, then something terribly wrong was happening in this department in the past. Were some suspects protected, or was there just no willingness among officers to do the work the taxpayer is paying them for? That said, rape is also a form of gender-based violence (GBV), a pervasive cancer that has infiltrated our society in a very depressing fashion.

No day passes in Eswatini without a report of a female, young or old, having become either a survivor or a victim of GBV. Survivors live with the trauma and anxiety that is a by-product of violence of any form. Victims, on the other hand, leave behind family members, including children, having to deal with the trauma and sense of loss that comes with losing a loved one.
So, what is the real cause of GBV? Why are we, as a country, dealing with such a crime as an everyday occurrence? Is alcohol a contributing factor? The time has come for the relevant structures, including Parliament, the police, relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and even us, the media, to dedicate some research to this question. It is just too much.
That most of the perpetrators also commit suicide after killing their victims needs to be looked into. Why do they do that?

The brutality that goes with such crimes, like in the case of Welile Gule, a Form V pupil of Mnjoli who was hacked many times and her fingers cut, is also a tell-tale sign of the rage that accompanies such incidents. With answers to these questions, the solution will always be attainable.

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