Times Of Swaziland: SHOCKING CRIMES ROCKING ESWATINI

SHOCKING CRIMES ROCKING ESWATINI
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Thobeka Manyathela on 27/10/2024 15:24:00


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.