NKOYOYO BUS TEAR GAS INCIDENT: COPS USED EXCESSIVE FORCE ON WORKERS - REPORT

PIGG’S PEAK – The police used excessive force when they discharged tear gas and further fired rubber bullets on workers in a bus at Nkoyoyo, says a report.

The report compiled by the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration/Integrity states that 18 members of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) were interviewed separately and were in unison in how the events turned out. The report states that the teachers’ narration was also corroborated by the driver of the Classic Bus Service, in which they were travelling.

According to the report, members of the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU), which is a wing of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), drove at high speed towards the spot where the buses had stopped and drove on the wrong lane and against oncoming traffic. It states that there was no communication or any order given for the buses to turn back. Instead, the report states that tear gas canisters were discharged randomly as soon as the officers were close to the buses.

Interviewed

“In the words of the interviewees, it was ‘raining’ tear gas canisters. When all the interviewed members tried to escape, they were shot with rubber bullets. There were no means made by the respondent to convey the injured for medical attention. Most were attended to by people found at the nearby homesteads, where they sought refuge,” reads in part the preliminary findings. The report alleges that the national commissioner did not dispute the use of tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the SNAT members and force the buses to turn back.
The only point of departure from the police, according to the report, was that there were no tear gas canisters thrown inside the buses.

The report states that provisions of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 21, ratified by Eswatini in 2004, which was also domesticated by the Constitution of Eswatini in Section 25, protect the freedom of assembly and association.It was reported that the Human Rights Council in General Comment No.37 (2020) on the right of peaceful assembly (Article 21), provides guidance on the protection of the right to freedom of association and assembly and states that; “Protection of the right requires States to allow such assemblies to take place without unwarranted interference and to facilitate the exercise of the right and to protect the participants.

“The second sentence of Article 21 provides grounds for potential restrictions, but any such restrictions must be narrowly drawn. There are, in effect, limits on the restrictions that may be imposed.”The report further states that; “Law enforcement officials should seek to de-escalate situations that might result in violence. They are obliged to exhaust non-violent means and to give prior warning if it becomes absolutely necessary to use force, unless doing either would be manifestly ineffective.”

The report reads: “Any use of force must comply with the fundamental principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, precaution and non-discrimination applicable to Articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant, and those using force must be accountable for each use of force. 106. Domestic legal regimes on the use of force by law enforcement officials must be brought into line with the requirements enshrined in international law, guided by standards such as the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and the United Nations Human Rights Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement.” Also, the report states that less-lethal weapons with wide-area effects, such as tear gas and water cannons, tend to have indiscriminate effects. It was reported that when such weapons were used, all reasonable efforts should be made to limit risks, such as causing a stampede or harming bystanders.

Weapons

“Such weapons should be used only as a measure of last resort, following a verbal warning, and with adequate opportunity given for assembly participants to disperse. Tear gas should not be used in confined spaces,” reads in part the report. The Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration/Integrity is a constitutional body established under Section 163 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini Act, 1 of 2005.  It is empowered by Section 164(1), to investigate complaints concerning alleged violations of fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in Chapter III of the Constitution. The report was compiled following that SNAT lodged a complaint against the national commissioner in his capacity as the head of REPS and the second respondent was the police.

The complainant’s (SNAT) members from Pigg’s Peak, a town in the northern part of Eswatini, which is about 42 kilometres north of Mbabane, boarded two buses to Mbabane, with the intention to join the other members for a march and petition delivery. The complainant members claimed that while travelling in the bus on the MR42 Road to Mbabane and about to pass Nkoyoyo, just at the off-ramp to the Nkoyoyo Palace, nine kilometres from the capital city, a police traffic roadblock was spotted. The complainants reported that the police stopped the buses, which they suspected were overloaded. The complainants reportedly stated that a decision was made by their leaders that those who were standing in the buses should walk and reboard the buses after they had passed the roadblock.

Distance

They allegedly walked for a distance, but later decided to return to the buses, because it would seem like they were beginning the march. They further alleged that as they travelled back to the buses, they suddenly noticed that the police had fired tear gas and they heard gunshots being fired indiscriminately at them by a group of police aboard a van with inscriptions of the OSSU.The police van reportedly drove up towards the buses from the roadblock and used the opposite lane, as it went against oncoming traffic. The SNAT members were said to have started running for cover; some got back into the buses, while others ran to seek refuge in nearby homes and forests.  According to the report, those who had sought cover inside the bus alleged that the police came towards the bus and ordered the driver to open the door, which was shut with passengers inside, but he was said to have been reluctant as the occupants requested that he should not oblige.

Unlocked

“Eventually, the police were able to open the driver’s door, which was unlocked, dragged the driver out of the bus and threw a tear gas canister inside the bus, while another officer stood at the passenger door with a gun, ordering the occupants to get out of the bus. As the passengers alighted from the bus, it is alleged that the police, who were standing outside the bus, shot at the complainants. “As a result, the complainants alleged that 18 of their members got shot during the incident,” reads Article 6 in part. The report further states that the complainants’ members also alleged that they spread out to different homes and forests, where they sought refuge until an ambulance from 977 (an emergency vehicle) and a SNAT burial car came to their rescue and took them to hospitals, Mbabane Government Hospital and Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital, where they were treated and discharged for their different injuries.

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