MORE POLICE LIES AT JELE INQUEST

More evidence is emerging that Swazi police and prison wardens lied about the circumstances of the death of pro-democracy activist Sipho Jele who died while in custody.

They had claimed that they interviewed people who were in the same cell as Jele about the circumstances of his death.

Now, an independent pathologist has told an inquest into Jele’s death that the cell mates deny being interviewed.

Dr Ganas Perumal said, ‘I asked if any of the inmates had been interviewed to see if they had seen him and if any fight had ensued during the night of his death but none had been interviewed.’

This is not the first time that the police have been found out lying to the inquest. Previously, it was discovered that police had recorded in an official journal that Jele was in good health when he was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with the slogan of banned organisation PUDEMO and taken to Manzini police station.

The official record – called the RSP 3 book – says the entry was made by Constable David Tsabedze, but he told the inquest that he never made the entry.

SWAZI ACTIVIST’S DEATH ‘NOT SUICIDE’

Democracy activist Sipho Jele, who supposedly hanged himself on a beam while in custody, was found completely suspended from the ground, but there was nothing nearby for him to stand on to get the rope around his neck.

And it was impossible for him to tie the rope around his neck while seated on the beam and then throw himself down for the rope to tighten around his neck.

Doubts that Jele committed suicide were voiced by independent Specialist Forensic Pathologist Dr. Ganas Perumal at the continuing inquest into the death of Jele.

According to a report in the Swazi News, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, Perumal said, ‘In this case there is no evidence of being hung. The perplexing thing is how he got suspended as there was no object on which he stood. In most cases the object is kicked away for the body to remain suspended. There was no such object that was found. That is the only feature that doesn’t confirm suicide. It is an enigma how he hung without standing on an object.’

Questioned by attorney Leo Gama on whether it was possible that Jele had tied the rope around his neck while seated on the beam he was found hanging from, and then threw himself down for the rope to tighten around his neck, Dr. Perumal entirely ruled out this possibility.

‘In that case there would be stretching of the skin and moreover there would be problem with the spine. Looking at the findings, we can exclude that scenario. There are no features to suggest that,’ he said.

STATE SMOKESCREEN ON JELE DEATH

The Swazi state is trying to create a smokescreen over the death of democracy activist Sipho Jele.

As the inquest into his death in custody rumbles on lurid allegations are being made about Jele. We are told police found a seditious document at Jele’s home; that he had an expired membership card for the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO); that he had links to alleged terrorists who tried to bomb the Lozitha bridge and that Swazi police were ready to make other charges against him in addition to that of wearing a PUDEMO T-shirt.

All of this is completely irrelevant and nothing to do with the circumstances of Jele’s death, which is the purpose of the inquest.

This is not a trial into allegations that Jele was a terrorist. It is an investigation into how he ended up hanging in the detention centre at Sidvwashini.

Already the inquest has raised suspicions that the Swazi police and correctional service are trying to cover up exactly what happened to Jele once he was placed in remand.

The latest allegations about Jele’s alleged ‘terrorist’ links are designed to soften up the Swazi people. If the inquest finds the police and correctional services were at fault in Jele’s death (and even are responsible for his murder, as many pro-democracy activists in Swaziland fear), the Swazi state hopes it can divert attention away from their crimes.

The state hopes we will think, ‘Jele was a terrorist and he deserved what he got’.

Don’t be fooled. Let’s get the inquest to concentrate on the real issue at stake: how did Jele die when he was in the protection of the Swazi state?

SWAZI SOLDIERS ATTACK AGAIN

Here’s more evidence that King Mswati III’s finest are out of control.

Three armed soldiers left a man for dead after he tried to help a woman they were beating up. And in a separate incident, a woman was beaten by two soldiers after she tried to stop them talking to her sister.

This time, the police say they are taking the matter seriously and are treating the first attack as attempted murder. They are also investigating the second attack.

Soldiers have been out of control in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. In January 2010 they were warned that their attacks on civilians amounted to a ‘shoot to kill’ policy and was unconstitutional.

There have been many accounts of soldiers killing or beating up civilians, including a cold-blooded murder of two women accused of smuggling a car across the border with South Africa; a man who had five bullets pumped into his body after being beaten to a pulp; an attack on sex workers after three soldiers refused to pay them for their services; an attack by a bus load of soldiers on a security guard after he asked them to move their vehicle; and five drunk soldiers who terrorised two boys, smashing one of them to a pulp.

COME CLEAN BOGUS DOCTOR DLAMINI

Swaziland’s Minister of Education Wilson Ntshangase has questioned the value of honorary doctorate degrees awarded to prominent people in the Swazi political and business community.

And he says he has never heard of the Omega Global University that recently conferred them.

Ntshangase should turn his attention to Doctor Barnabas Dlamini, who was illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and ask him what he did to earn his doctorate.

The answer: Dlamini was given the degree for nothing by the University of Swaziland (Chancellor: King Mswati). Even so, he allows himself to be called ‘Doctor’ Dlamini, misleading people into thinking that he has achieved a high level of academic standing.

To make matters worse, the University of Swaziland doesn’t award doctorate degrees in the normal course of events. Roughly half the students at the kingdom’s only university are studying for certificates and diplomas which are below the level of bachelor degree. There are only a few dozen working towards masters degrees and no student is (or ever has) studied for a doctorate at the university.

Dlamini should do the decent thing and admit that his claim to be a ‘doctor’ is bogus and instruct people to stop using the title when they refer to him.