DRUGS SHORTAGE: LET RELATIVES BUY US MEDS – SICK THABO

MBABANE – The effects of the shortage of drugs and medical supplies in health institutions have been felt even behind prison walls.

The self-professed solidarity forces ‘commander’, Thabo Kunene, his family members and co-accused Sibusiso Nkomonye, have run to court in order for their relatives, who have access to pharmacies, to be allowed to visit them at Matsapha Maximum Prison, where they are awaiting trial for terrorism charges and murder, among other offences. In their application filed at the High Court, Thabo stated that their relatives were not allowed to visit them in prison.

He submitted that he and Sibusiso still required medical attention due to the injuries they sustained when they were assaulted in the Republic of South Africa, before they came to Eswatini. They alleged that Andile ‘Dr Mkhulu’ Nkomonye and local senior police officers colluded to bring them unlawfully to Eswatini after they were assaulted.

Injuries

Thabo and Sibusiso are currently awaiting judgment in the matter, in which they applied to be taken to hospital for the injuries they sustained when they were assaulted while in the neighbouring country. They also demanded that the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital should provide their medical records. According to Thabo, who alleged that they were denied access and communication with the outside world, they want their family members to buy them medication in pharmacies and bring it to them in prison.

He said he had the right to demand visitation rights because his next-of-kin were able to buy him medication, since the Correctional Services and all hospitals in Eswatini do not have adequate medical drugs and other supplies. “I am sick from the brutal assault I sustained in the Republic of South Africa. I suspect that my ribs were broken. The court will take judicial notice that there are no medical drugs in our local hospitals, and as such my next-of-kin will buy me medication from private pharmacies and bring it to me.

“I verily believe this matter is urgent because I am only relying on outside medication for treatment herein. I was relying on my children to buy such from any pharmacies outside the Correctional centre. It is unbelievable that I only access outside medication through my attorneys, who sometimes come to take instructions,” Thabo submitted. Thabo and Sibusiso are facing 43 charges for allegedly contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act, 2008.  The charges include six of murder, 17 of attempted murder, nine of malicious damage to property and two counts of arson.

Friends

The accused persons and their family members want the High Court to issue an order that their next-of-kin and other persons, who might be reputable friends, associates and colleagues, whether from within or outside Eswatini, legal representatives or doctor, to have reasonable access and confidentiality to them. In the application, which has been filed under a certificate of urgency, the accused further entreated the court to compel the commissioner general of His Majesty’s Correctional Services to allow them access to communicate to the outside world, in terms of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.   

It is further their plea to the court that it should compel the commissioner general to issue all copies of their medical treatment to their attorneys.
Respondents are the commissioner general of His Majesty’s Correctional Services, the national commissioner of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration/Integrity and the attorney general.  

When motivating the application, Thabo argued that the matter was urgent as he was sick and there was no medication at the Correctional facility.
He brought it to the attention of the court that he was only relying on outside medication for treatment. It is alleged that Thabo was surviving on medication from his children and next-of-kin, who purchase same from pharmacies outside the Correctional facility. “It is unbelievable that the applicant (Thabo) only accesses outside medication through his attorney who sometimes comes to take instructions because his children are not allowed visitation rights,” read part of the application.

The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. Thabo, his sister and niece, Sentelani Kunene and Nonhlanhla Dlamini respectively, as well as Sibusiso Nkomonye are the applicants and are represented by Leo Dlamini of L.N. Dlamini and Associates. Thabo contended that he believed that he had a locus standi (legal right) to bring this application before the High Court as a political criminal suspect, currently detained at Matsapha Maximum Prison. He submitted that as an accused, he had a direct and substantial interest to be allowed visitation rights in terms of Section 16(6) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Detention

Section 16(6) provides that; where a person is arrested or detained, the next-of-kin of that person shall, at the request of that person, be informed as soon as practicable of the arrest or detention and place of the arrest or detention. It further stipulates that the next-of-kin, legal representative and personal doctor of that person shall be allowed reasonable access and confidentiality to that person; and that person shall be allowed reasonable access to medical treatment including at the request and cost of that person, and access to private medical treatment. “I have since been denied a right in terms of Section 16(6) of the Constitution Act 2005, since I was unlawfully arrested by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service in the Republic of South Africa and subsequent detention at Matsapha Maximum Prison,” he argued.

Warrant

In his founding affidavit, Thabo told the court that on May 31, 2023, he was arrested without a warrant of arrest by Senior Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane and Superintendent Thabo Hlophe, who is a Manzini Regional Crime Brach Officer. According to Thabo, the duo of Sihlongonyane and Hlophe arrested him and his co-accused in Rustenburg, South Africa. He averred that the arrest without a warrant was unlawful because, they were allegedly not informed of the reasons for same in terms of the law.   

Thabo said he was then illegally repatriated into the Kingdom of Eswatini without a warrant of arrest or any extradition order, next to Ngwenya Border Gate, through the border fence separating the Kingdom of Eswatini and the Republic of South Africa. He informed the court that they were then taken to Mbabane Police Station, where Sihlongonyane disappeared. He narrated to the court that they were then taken by a new team of police officers from Mbabane Police Station to Mafutseni Police Station.

“With my co-accused, we were detained at Mafutseni Police Station on June 21, 2023. I was taken to The Luke Commission at Sidvokodvo, but I was not given the medical report results. “I need these medical results in order to pursue my criminal attempted murder case that was committed by Andile Nkomonye in collaboration with Clement Sihlongonyane and Thabo Hlophe in Rustenburg in the Republic of South Africa. “I was then remanded in custody on June 2, 2023 by the High Court of Eswatini at Matsapha Correctional Services,” he told the court.

Visitation

Thabo informed the court that since he was admitted to prison, he had allegedly been denied visitation rights in terms of Section 16(6) of the Constitution. “I have been denied communication with the outside world since I was admitted into detention in terms of the law. I verily believe that it is my constitutional right to access my visitation rights in terms of Section 16 (6) of the Constitution. Further, I have a right against detention in communicado in law. I have been denied visitation rights since I was arrested on May 31, 2023 up to this date of moving this application.

“As stated above, I am further denied communication to the outside world. I verily believe that I have a right to visitation by my next-of-kin and other persons who may be reputable friends I associate with and colleagues, whether from within or outside Eswatini, outside the categories of immediate next-of-kin, legal representatives or doctor. I have a right to have reasonable access and confidentiality to the above categories of persons during incarceration,” Thabo argued. He pointed out that his constitutional right in terms of Section 16 (6) of the Constitution, was allegedly violated since he was detained at Matsapha Maximum Prison. The matter is pending in court.

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