By Zweli Martin Dlamini

When National Commissioner William Dlamini declared war, challenging those who are involved in the ongoing shooting and killing of police officers to come-out in the open, that was a demonstration of poor leadership.

Personally, I have close friends within the police service both juniors and seniors, the late Deputy Commissioner Vusi Masuku was one of them.

One of my close friends who is a police officer even paid me a visit at Lobamba Police Station after being arrested by Lukhozi who were acting on Princess Sikhanyiso’s order.

This means the death of one police officer, impacts other Swazis because we are related in this country, what divides us is the poor leadership and the involvement of security officers in our political affairs.

Now, the shooting and killing of security officers has become an integral part in the entire democratic discourse.

National Commissioner William Tsintsibala Dlamini’s sentiments; “ngeke basicedze, kuyogcina tsine” suggest that, to him, the recent shooting and killing of police was not enough, he wants to witness more deaths.

Leadership is not about proving a point how powerful you are, particularly,when holding a position of significant trust like that of National Commissioner whose fundamental mandate is to maintain law and order while promoting peace and stability.

Police officers provide an essential service to the Nation that further enhances the ease of doing business,

despite their atrocities, we fully understand that they remain important in our society.

It’s a pity that their superiors opted to set them against the people resulting to the ongoing shooting and killing of security officers.

National Commissioner William Dlamini was speaking the language of Mswati who is also very stubborn when it comes to conflict management, it is actually King Mswati’s stubbornness that resulted to the current political crisis.

Perhaps, I would make an example about an investigative journalist who always breaks exclusive stories, he/she cannot perform without the support of sources or informers.

Indeed, without the information provided by sources, the journalist is nothing and therefore, in journalism, we have an obligation to ensure the safety and or protection of our sources.

In this regard, some of these police officers who are being made sacrificial lambs by Tsintsibala are our sources, we are getting worried to see a National Commissioner uttering sentiments that undermines national security, perpetrate war instead of opting for a peaceful resolution.

The ongoing shooting of police officers was triggered by the killing of innocent civilians during the political unrest, it is and remain, a self-defense operation.

The police have an alternative to speak in one voice and tell their superiors that they won’t shoot and kill civilians anymore to restore public trust.

National Commissioner William Dlamini is a very weak leader, no regime in the whole world ever won against the people because the collective voice of the masses is powerful.

On the other hand, no country can survive without police officers, while the fight continues, Tsintsibala must remember that even his safety won’t be guaranteed if he continues to mess-up the security system of the country.

The National Commissioner might be tempted to look explosives kept at the underground storage within the Ngonini Operational Support Services Unit(OSSU) and conclude that the State is fully armed,those weapons were meant to protect the citizens not to kill them.

Furthermore, Tsintsibala must understand that those weapons automatically become useless if the welfare of police officers who are expected to operate them are not happy with their welfare.

Therefore, National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini demonstrated that he wants to see police officers getting killed because he is always escorted.

The welfare of police officers is guaranteed under a new democratic Government, even the salaries paid to these officers suggest that Mswati’s Government is just exploiting them.

Tsintsibala wants police officers to die for a less than ten thousand Rands (R10,000.00) salary before deductions, some earn as little as R1,500.00 after deductions.