MBABANE:Senior Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane was almost assaulted by aggrieved junior police officers during a meeting at the Headquarters on Monday.
This was after the senior cop tried to issue an order on behalf of the Attorney General(AG) stopping their protest march in demand for a salary increment.
Police officers are highly expected to march again to the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday to collect responses after delivering a petition last week.
In a meeting that was recorded by the junior officers and shared with this Swaziland News, Sihlongonyane communicated an order from the Attorney General(AG) Sifiso Khumalo stopping police officers from protesting.
But the officers asked Sihlongonyane why the Executive Command involved the AG when they should be addressed by the National Commissioner in this matter.
“The AG is working with the Prime Minister that is why the message came through him. That’s the message, the protest is not allowed tomorrow. You will find ways how you tell other officers but a protest,NO”, said the Senior Superintendent.
While Sihlongonyane was talking, the officers were heard in the recording engaging in a verbal showdown with him.
“Your problem is that you don’t know what is happening on the ground, you just talk any how,” said another junior officer when addressing Senior Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane.
A questionnaire was sent to Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, the Police Spokesperson, however, she had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
The junior police officers who engaged in a verbal showdown with Senior Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane had been summoned to a meeting at the police Headquarters on Monday where they were told to stop the protest.
But the officers told this publication earlier that they would defy even a court order and march to the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday.
The recording where the junior officers were engaged in a verbal showdown with Sihlongonyane was shared on Swaziland News online platforms.
Senior Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane.