Times Of Swaziland: ‘3 MISCARRIAGES AFTER POLICE TORTURE’

‘3 MISCARRIAGES AFTER POLICE TORTURE’
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Kwanele Dlamini  on 02/12/2020 16:35:00


MBABANE – A woman who was accused of harbouring her wanted boyfriend has
alleged that she had three miscarriages due to being tortured by the police.
Thandolwakhe Ntshangase (27) of Ndabazezwe under Chief Gasawangwane, has since
instituted proceedings at the High Court to be granted special leave in terms of
Section 4(1) of the Limitation of Legal Proceedings Against Government Act,
1972, to sue government. She said she was unable to file her claim against
government timeously because she thought she would do so after the police had
been prosecuted. She found herself out of time in terms of the Act, hence her
current application. According to the Act, she was to file her claim within 24
months, as per Section 2(1)(c).
Ntshangase submitted that her attorneys, DEMHleta Legal, advised her that the
timeframe within which she could sue government had elapsed. She alleged that
she was wrongfully and unlawfully tortured, assaulted and detained by Lavumisa
police without justifiable cause in January 2018. “I was taken into custody
and tortured for the whole night,” she alleged.
Stabbing
Ntshangase told the court that the police raided a house belonging to her then
boyfriend’s sister. She said the police were looking for her boyfriend, Melusi
Myeni, who was wanted for stabbing a man in a bar. Ntshangase said she knew
nothing about the offence her then boyfriend was accused of having committed,
but she was nevertheless arrested. “In fact, when they arrived at his
sister’s residence, they took him first and left me and his sister in the
house. When they were passing by the window in front of the house, I overheard
one of them saying lesif*** sakhe sisishiyelani (why are we leaving the girl
behind)? Let us take the b***h,” she alleged. The veracity of these
allegations is still to be tested in court. The national commissioner of police
is the first respondent in the matter.
Ntshangase submitted that she was taken into custody and charged for failure to
report the whereabouts of Myeni, her now former boyfriend. Myeni’s sister was
never arrested.  She said she was acquitted and discharged of the charge. She
informed the court that when she reached the police station in Lavumisa, the
officers allegedly took turns torturing her in an attempt to make her confess to
committing an offence with Myeni.