By Wendy Magagula

MBABANE: Eswatini was allegedly turned into a State of lawlessness during the recent political chaos, senior and junior police officers used that opportunity to grab properties from alleged looters for personal use.

As a result and despite the vigorous raiding conducted by the police across the the country, the cases are struggling to appear in court and business people complained to this Swaziland News that some police officers are appearing in their cameras looting their items with impunity.

“I caught some of them red-handed and reported the matter to the National Commissioner’s office, seemingly no one is willing to talk to me because some of these officers are implicated in the looting.Actually, what we gathered is that apart from looting our shops, they went as far as grabbing innocent people’s properties within their homes for themselves. Now, no police officer is prepared to take action against another even if you can report, because some of them have skeletons in their closet” said a businessman who cannot be named for ethical reasons.

National Commissioner of Police Tsintsibala William Dlamini avoided questions when reached by this publication.

It has been disclosed that after some of the police officers grabbed the properties for themselves, the State is now reluctant to push the criminal cases in court and the owners of the properties have been sent from pillar to post with no clear explanation.

Reached for comments Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, a human rights lawyer confirmed that the cases of those charged for the alleged looting are consistently postponed by the State except for those where the accused persons pleaded guilty.

“The property is seized from an accused because it will used as evidence to prove commission of the offence. That property must be kept at the police until produced in court. From the looting cases save to those who just tendered a plea of guilty I have not seen them heard in court but constant postponements” said the human rights lawyer.

This is not the first case where members of the public were accused of committing a crime only for the evidence to emerge that it was the police.

Senior Superintendent Enock Zulu was arrested last week for allegedly burning Ok Food despite an earlier claim by the Crown that pro-democracy Members of Parliament Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni were responsible for the destruction of properties.