By Wendy Magagula

MBABANE: Pro-democracy Members of Parliament(MPs), Students President Colani Maseko visited Thabani Nkomonye’s family at Nhlambeni on Thursday ahead of the mass protest on Friday seeking justice for the law student who was allegedly killed by the police.

Addressing the family, Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza said the death of Thabani Nkomonye touched every Swazi adding that the Nation was now demanding to see the officer who killed him.

“We are not asking the police to bring Thabani back to life, but we are demanding to see the officer or officers who killed him. However, Government has taken a position to defend the person or people who killed Thabani then you ask yourself, what is so special about them to receive such protection? In another murder case, the suspect who was not even at the crime scene was arrested but in Thabani’s there are officers who were at the crime scene, no one is arresting them. We live here in Manzini and we receive more information on how Thabani was killed but those suspects are not arrested because they are used by the government to kill people. We are sending condolences to you boNkomonye, but I would like to state that the time has come, the death of Thabani opened the eyes of many Swazis so they can see the cruelty of this government”, he said .

Mduduzi ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane, the Siphofaneni Member of Parliament said many Swazis were killed by the police and nothing happened to the officers, he said the time has come for serious action to be taken.

The MP said those who were killed by the police include Sipho Jele, Zavale and Noxolo, who was shot in 1996 and the police never accounted for their lives. The MP said in all the cases where the police  killed people and later investigated themselves, they never found themselves guilty.

“Police brutally assaulted Sanele Shiba(kombi conductor) kube bekute ticingo bekatawutsi uyakhuluma atsi emaphoyisa indzaba yakhe ingemanga(meaning: if there were no cellphones to capture the police assaulting him, the police would have easily said he was lying that he was assaulted). This thing is very painful, we recently went to Mliba few months ago, one security guard was killed by the police for a 50kg of sugar. They took him saying they were investigating and until today, police are not coming up with answers regarding his death. So the more we keep quiet, is the more we die at the hands of the police” he said.

The Siphofaneni MP then advised Thabani Nkomonye’s family to prepare a huge open area like a soccer field for Thabani Nkomonye’s memorial service for the large numbers that would attend tomorrow.