Dial 999 for human rights

It is happening all at once in Eswatini. Everyone wants to be seen doing some thing. While junior police officers are on an historic move to demand better pay, their seniors at headTuarters are calling their very own emergency line

for backup. It did not matter to them that the phone rang right within the same building and they could have easily walked a few metres to pick it up themselves.

What matters is that in times of dis tress, people should call . Everyone is free to do so.

Even soldiers and warders should not be ashamed to call if they feel their lives threatened, just as the senior police officers did early last week when an unidentified person padlocked the main gate to the headTuarters.

It is such a pity that ordinary folk like you and I, who call the same emergency number never get help.

This was the case long before the social unrest brought about by poor political decision making.

It had become a chorus for police officers to say, “We will come when we get transport. )or now, all our cars are out attending to other cases.´

At other times, they would say, “We have cars but there is no fuel.´

The caller would have to deal with the situation by themselves, without any assistance from the law enforcement agency.

The police probably have enough cars and barrels of fuel these days.

0aybe they get the petrol and diesel directly from the 6trategic 2il Reserve itself now, instead of the CTA. Wait, has that oil reserve started operating yet"

Anyway, people who call no longer hear the excuse of fuel or lack of transport. They are only told point blank that officers will not come out “ngoba niyasidubula nine´ you guys just want to shoot us dead).

2nly per cent of what is going on is positive. Not to be outdone, the +uman Rights Commission pushed its way into the per cent bracket in the past week, announcing that it would be visiting schools to teach learners about human rights.

6omeone in there woke up to the re alisation that most ema6wati were not aware of these rights and suggested that they be visited to make them aware.

The goal is probably to cover the whole country but for now, pupils and teachers in schools will be told that they have a right to freedom of speech without being threatened or arrested the right to freedom of association right to life and the right to Tuality education, among other rights.

)rom a bird’s eye view, these learners will take this knowledge to their graves without having enjoyed any of these rights.

)lying to and from their nests on a reg ular basis, birds up there observe that in Eswatini, people know their rights but they are not allowed to practise them.

The birds think it would make better sense to visit politicians in all positions of leadership, to teach them about hu man rights and why it is important for all citi]ens, whether born in palaces or stick and mud huts, to enjoy them.

They shouldn’t have to dial enjoy their constitutional rights. to