By Bongiwe Dlamini

MALKERNS: Superintendent Bhekani Khumalo, the Malkerns Station Commander demonstrated true policing on Tuesday when he controlled both his police officers and public transport employees to maintain peace and avoid confrontations.

In eSwatini it is rare for protestors to deliver petitions without being shot by the police, dozens have been killed since the political unrest started.

Police normally exercise caution when dealing with public transport employees as they normally exercise their power and influence a national shutdown without even applying for protest permit from Municipalities. 

In a unusual conduct, police demonstrated professionalism during the delivery of a petition where the public transport employees were demanding justice for their colleague Sabelo Dlamini who was allegedly shot and killed by police officer Nkola Mabuza during the political unrest.

Reached for comments, Muzi Nhleko, the founder and National Organiser of the Eswatini Kombis, Buses and Allied Workers Union(EKABAU) confirmed that the Station Commander maintained law and order during the delivery of the petition.

“It’s true, we were not assaulted by the police on that day, the police Station Commander was professional hence they were no confrontations and chaos. We have always maintained that protestors are peaceful, it is the police that provokes them. If the police can work professionally in the country and do exactly what Station Commander Khumalo did, we will protest in peace in the country with no deaths and injuries,” he said.

Efforts to reach Station Commander Bhekani Khumalo proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

But Nhleko said they noted that while they were addressing the police, soldiers were camping nearby waiting to shoot them, he said the soldiers were driving in a foreign registered GD6.

It has been disclosed that after the delivery of the petition, some public transport workers were abducted by the police who found them next to Gcina Army Barracks in Matsapha, they then handed them over to soldiers who tortured them.