Mar19 Sd2006

This week in Swaziland:

Mar 19 PUDEMO (People's United Democratic Mov't) detained, rally blocked
Mar 19 Evictions
Mar 18 Top cop threatened to kill suspect
Mar 17 Chief grabs land from school
Mar 16 SA doctor examines freed suspects
Mar 16 Job losses, closures devastate economy
Mar 15 PUDEMO to stage blockade
Mar 15 Political parties want to meet king Mswati III
Mar 14 Govt Hospital a disgrace

Mar 14 Minor forced into marriage
Mar 13 Cop rapes girl

For more details go to

http://swazilandsolidaritynetworkcanada.wikispaces.com/

If you've time to e-mail, send a brief note to these two people from the Commonwealth Secretariat calling for the unbanning of political parties in Swaziland.

Mr Don McKinnon
The Commonwealth Secretary-General
info@commonwealth.int

Ms Rabab Fatima
Adviser & Head of Human Rights Unit
r.fatima@commonwealth.int

AN ARTICLE FROM TODAY'S SWAZI TIMES

Top cop Khethokwakhe threatened to kill suspect
Sunday Times Mar 18
BY SONNYBOY FAKUDZE

MBABANE – Senior Superintendent Khethokwakhe Ndlangamandla is said to have allegedly threatened a member of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), Sicelo Vilane with death if he resisted signing a statement that he was never tortured by the police.

In his affidavit filed in the High Court, Vilane gave a background of the matter.

He alleged that on January 21, 2006 around 10am four men arrived at his parental homestead at Mafucula and found him at home.

He said the four men told him that they were looking for a certain Vilane homestead and he told them that his homestead too was a Vilane. “The men then said they were looking for Sicelo Vilane and I informed them that I was Sicelo Vilane. They went on to say that they had come to fetch me and I advised them that I was going nowhere with people I did not know and moreso to an unknown destination.

Driving

“The four men who came driving in a red Toyota Corolla Sedan with local registration numbers threatened to assault me if I refused to go with them. I was alone at home at that time and I feared that these men would carry out their threat to assault me and I obliged to their order,” he said.

Vilane stated that he boarded the car with the unknown men and the car drove towards Tshaneni where it went straight to Tshaneni Police Station. He said though these men had not yet introduced themselves to him he then realised upon reaching Tshaneni Police Station that they were police officers as they were also not in uniform. “These men who turned out to be police officers stationed at Tshaneni Police Station did not inform me the reasons for my arrest. At the Tshaneni Police Station I was ordered by these men to alight from the car and proceeded inside the police station’s building. Upon entering the building I was led to the conference room of the police station where I found a group of about 15 police officers seated in chairs around and next to the walls of the conference room.

At the centre of the conference room there was a chair, which I was ordered to occupy,” he alleged.

Room

He said amongst the police officers he found in the conference room was Senior Superintendent Khethokwakhe Ndlangamandla. Vilane explained that after he had taken the seat at the centre of the police officers, Ndlangamandla stood up from his chair and without uttering a word proceeded to where he was seated and handcuffed him from the back and onto or against the chair he was seated on.

He alleged that Ndlangamandla told him that he has heard that they (Vilane together with the other PUDEMO members) intended bombing the Siteki Police Regional Headquarters.

“He went on to ask me when we intend to carry out the bombing there. I told Senior Superintendent Ndlangamandla that I was not aware that there was a plot to bomb Siteki Police Regional Headquarters, as I honestly did not know anything about such intended action.

Response

“Upon hearing my response, Senior Superintendent Ndlangamandla allegedly got infuriated and intimidating. He pushed me whilst still seated handcuffed to the chair towards the wall.

“He asked me again when do we intend carrying out our mission of bombing the Police Regional Headquarters at Siteki and I told him that I did not know,” he said. Vilane said Ndlangamandla got furious and slapped him with open hands across the face more than five times. He said he also kicked him hard and throttled and suffocated him with is hands in same process and encounter. He said seeing that he was heavily assaulted he told Ndlangamandla that they were going to carry out the bombings on February 5, 2006.