Times Of Swaziland: Cop is beaten up by 4 colleagues

Cop is beaten up by 4 colleagues
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MAQHAWE NXUMALO on 16/11/2010 00:00:00


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.