Over 80% failed vetting in police recruitment
MBABANE - It has been gathered that over 80 per cent of job seekers were disqualified after failing a vetting process in the ongoing police recruitment exercise.
The vetting is said to have also focused on social media posts by every applicant.
It has become normal practice of late that each time when there is a Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) recruitment process, the first step is the vetting of aspiring candidates, which includes looking into their conduct on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Previously, the vetting process was mainly through the submission of fingerprints and this exercise was carried out at the REPS headquarters.
Through the checking of the fingerprints, the REPS are able to ascertain if one is a suitable candidate for recruitment.
The same is also applicable during recruitment processes at His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) and the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF).
SourceS
However, according to highly placed sources, the vetting of aspiring candidates in the security forces only through the checking of fingerprints, had proved to be unreliable because some of the recruits passed the process only to be discovered later after they had been confirmed as police officers that they were political activists.
At the height of the country’s political unrest in Eswatini, some police officers came out to declare their political affiliation and some even resigned from the service to
National Commissioner of Police, William Dlamini
concentrate on their political activism.
Independent investigations by this publication can reveal that most of these police service members, who had come out to declare their political affiliation, were members of the political parties long before they were employed. It has been gathered that following the resignations of some of the police service members, such as Sergeant Cebile ‘Cece’ Shongwe and Sabelo Simelane, who publicly declared that they were members of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the REPS has upped its vetting measures and extended it to social media platforms to thoroughly screen the aspiring recruits.
The sources revealed that it was through the social media platforms where the over 80 per cent of the aspiring applicants failed the screening.
It has been established that it is through their Facebook posts, comments and likes to controversial posts which are anti-government that they were disqualified.
It is through these social media posts where those responsible for vetting in the REPS established that the aspiring cops were not suitable candidates. Impeccable sources have further revealed that the recruitment exercise, which was announced by the National Commissioner of Police (NATCOM), William Dlamini, last year, had hit a snag when most of the aspiring cops failed to make it through this vetting process. This development has made it difficult for the Human Resources Department in the police service to recruit the over 1 000 candidates from last year.
revealed
The source also revealed that the REPS addressed this predicament during a meeting by top management.
Meanwhile, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service Sipho Tsabedze, in an earlier interview, warned emaSwati against posting negative or inflammatory messages on social media platforms such as Facebook.
He warned that potential employers such as government considered greatly what you post or comment about on Facebook. He pointed out that employers can either employ or dismiss you after going through comments or posts made on social media. Worth noting is that, many people have been posting negative messages against the Eswatini Government in their personal Facebook pages.
Tsabedze explained that now was the era whereby the people of Eswatini should apply responsibility and wisdom before posting anything on social media platforms.
The Computer and Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2022 has paved a way for people to be held accountable for what they post on the social networks.