Times Of Swaziland: BOOZE SOLD AT POLICE POST - RESIDENTS

BOOZE SOLD AT POLICE POST - RESIDENTS
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Delisa Thwala on 29/06/2021 08:50:00


MBABANE - Some police officers stationed at Mpolonjeni Police Post have been
accused of selling alcohol at the cop shop.
This allegation was made by some residents of Mpolonjeni when addressing issues
of alleged non-competence of the police post. The police post, which is located
within the Mpolonjeni Shopping Complex, according to the residents, does not
serve their needs adequately. They also alleged that some of the officers were
involved in corrupt activities. The community members made thse allegations
during a community meeting held at Moyeni on Sunday.
A number of issues were discussed during the meeting and they included the
current crime rate and hijackings taking place in the area. Raising the police
post matter was *Thabo, who said he had it in authority that some officers based
at the police post were allegedly selling alcohol. “The burning issue here is
the police post which does not help us in any way. I know them and I have seen
alcohol being sold and they do it all the time,” claimed Thabo. He further
alleged that police officers at the police post were either rude or very slow in
following cases. Another community member, who raised a similar concern, said
the reason they had a high crime rate in the area was because the police
allegedly failed to do their job properly.
“We might as well join the rest of the protesters in the country and burn that
police post. I have experienced bad service from that police post and this is
the reason people get away with crime,” alleged the community member. After a
week-long observation by this publication, it was noted that the police post
closed at exactly 6pm. This formed part of the concerns tabled by the community
members. Another concern was that there was no vehicle allocated to the police
post.
Complained
The Mpolonjeni community complained that some crime scenes could not be attended
to because of the lack of cars. “I could count a few incidents where the
police could not come because there was no car to help us,” said one community
member. When reached for comment, Mpolonjeni Bucopho Sabelo Hadzebe said he did
not know about the meeting.  “I was not officially informed about the meeting
yet I would have loved to be part of the discussions. I have come to know that
the issues that were discussed there were valid and true,” said Hadzebe. He
further acknowledged the high crime rate and the issue of the police post not
being helpful. “We are indeed under attack from dangerous thugs who not only
break into houses, but hijack cars now.