SWAZI POLICE MURDERED BHEKINKHOSI MASINA IN COLD BLOOD SSN-STATEMENT: June 18th, 2012
The death of Bhekinkhosi “Scarface” Masina has evoked mixed feelings within Swazis due to his notoriety as a fugitive and an alleged serial rapist. Regardless of the suspicions Bhekinkhosi was a citizen of Swaziland and under the law he was innocent, and would have remained so until such time that he was proven guilty by a court of law. This is what the country’s constitution states. His death in the hands of police is therefore unconstitutional, as the Times of Swaziland editor Mbongeni Mbingo would attest when publishing this statement as a letter to the editor. According to reports published in the Times newspaper, police claimed that Masina died after they used “minimal force” by shooting him in the thigh while he was fleeing from them. This is an outrageous lie. Anybody who has ever been apprehended by police will know their simple yet effective modus operandi when apprehending a suspect. What happened the day Masina died is that they encircled his hideout so that he would not be able to flee. When he found out that he had been cornered, he might have attempted to flee, only to find himself face to face with more police officers. What happened thereafter is left to people’s imagination. What we can vouch for is that all the people who have come forth with information have confirmed that Masina’s body has bullet wounds on his back. This confirms our suspicions and his grandmother’s worries, and explains why his family was not allowed to view his whole body. His aunt, Jabhile Masina, could not understand why Bhekinkhosi had dirt in his mouth when she saw his body in the morgue yet police claim he was apprehended alive. No matter how much pain he was in, there is no way he could have allowed that dirt to remain in his mouth because frankly it caused him discomfort. This only points to one possibility; Masina was dragged from the floor when it was clear that he was dead, which means that police had no intention of taking him alive. Only a dead body would not bother to spit out dirt from its mouth. This brings the number of extra-judicial killings to three in a space of two weeks. The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) is therefore posing the question once more, “Are Swazis expected to continue working with this murderous police force and helping it to apprehend suspects?” It is well and good to dismiss Masina as a self-styled outlaw who “deserved to die”. The question is what culture is being instilled in the police force by these continued unlawful killings? Moreover, the sad and grieving Masina family was not allowed to get a close look at their son’s body regardless of the fact that he is no longer alive and therefore no longer a suspect in a crime. Further, they would not allow the aunt to even weep at the mortuary, promising to arrest her if she wept. Police have acted in a very inhumane and unSwazi spirit by bullying his family members whom they know are poor and unaware of their legal rights. At this rate, it is only a matter of time before police start killing innocent Swazis for sport. These blood thirsty murderers have to be stopped. Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] Contact: Lucky Lukhele-spokesperson 072 502 4141 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
