Was there a need to use force?

MBABANE – Police could not measure the threat of the protest on Thursday to qualify for the use of live ammunition or rubber bullets.

Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Nosipho Mnguni When asked if there were any reports on shops being looted or destruction of property as witnessed previously, she responded to the negative.

When further asked if any of the people marching carried weapons, she said the report on whether weapons were confiscated from the marchers or not, was not yet presented.

These questions were posed to Mnguni after an outcry from the public on social media platform Facebook, questioning why Sphiwayinkhosi Nxumalo was shot.

CIRCUMSTANCES

She said that police were guided by the Public Order Act of 2017 when carrying out their duties in circumstances like that of Thursday.

Section 11 ( 8) ( 9) ( 10) of the Public Order Act 2017, states that if a person officer above the rank of sergeant has reasonable grounds to believe that any gathering in progress poses a direct and immediate threat to public order or public safety and that the threat cannot be adequately contained by measures short of the dispersal of the gathering, the police officer may order all persons participating in the gathering to disperse within a specified time which shall be reasonable in the circumstances.

If within the time specified the persons participating in the gathering have not dispersed or commenced dispersing, the member of the police ( rank above Sergeant) may order those under the command of such member to disperse the gathering.

DISPERSAL

“Any force used in the dispersal of the gathering shall not be greater than is necessary to secure the dispersal of the gathering and shall be proportionate to the circumstances of the case and the object to be attained,” reads the section.

When quizzed on when it was necessary for police to use live ammunition in dispersing people, Mnguni said they used what she termed ‘ proportional thought’.

According to when things are in proportion, they are proportionate and their relative magnitudes are in bal

vocabulary. com,

ance and make sense the way they are. When the punishment fits the crime, it’s proportionate.

“We examine the current situation and act according to the level of threat that the situation poses,” she said.

Mnguni further said as far as police records show no one has reported any shooting.

This comes after two men were allegedly shot dead by a police officer during a funeral on July 18. The police officer, stationed at the Lomahasha Police Station, allegedly gunned down the duo at the late Peter’s Transport owner Peter Mashaba’s home situated at Lomahasha.

DECEASED

The cop, who is popularly known as Twenty Dlamini, is alleged to have shot both men while they were seated by a fire which was outside the homestead’s gate during the night of the funeral.

It was alleged that the police officer used a service rifle, R4, to shoot the duo. The deceased were identified as Sifiso ‘ Mpostoli’ Masilela ( 26) and Mxolisi ‘ Sigubhu’ Nyoni ( 28), who both hailed from Lomahasha.

It was also established that the feud started at a bar around the area, where the police officer and the duo were enjoying alcoholic drinks.