FROM THE HIGH COURT, MAGISTRATES COURTS Police staff SG takes NATCOM
MBABANE - Secretary General of the Royal Eswatini Police Staff Association Dumisile Khumalo, has taken the national commissioner (NATCOM) of police and the tribunal which is handling her disciplinary hearing to court.
Khumalo, who holds the rank of a sergeant, among other prayers, wants the High Court to declare as unconstitutional the instruction by the NATCOM, William Tsitsibala Dlamini, to her and members of the association not to hold meetings.
She also wants the court to declare her suspension or attempt to suspend her and other members of the association from the activities of the staff associations as unconstitutional.
The secretary general (SG) further implored the court to declare as unconstitutional the appointment and empaneling of officers below the rank of assistant commissioner to administrative Boards to hear matters pertaining to the affairs and activities of the association. She wants same to be declared to be an unfair labour practice.
Respondents
The Royal Eswatini Police Service Staff Association is the second applicant in the matter. Respondents are the NATCOM, the presiding officer of the enquiry Board and the attorney general.
In the second part of her application, Khumalo wants the court to review and set aside the decision of the presiding officer of the enquiry Board of refusing to recuse himself from her enquiry. The applicant (Khumalo) also pleaded with the court to order the presiding officer of the enquiry Board and the administrative Board enquiring on the issue of her suspension to recuse themselves from the matter.
She brought it to the attention of the court that in an alleged frantic effort to silence the police staff association, the NATCOM did a number of things.
The SG narrated to the court that of October 12, 2022 she was served with a letter in terms of which she was accused of having defied a lawful order not to call the meeting of September 3, 2022, which was held at Caritas in Manzini.
“It is not stated in the letter as to who issued the lawful order to me and the reasons why we, as the staff association, should not hold our meeting during our spare time and outside the employer’s premises,” submitted Khumalo.
She contended that in the letter of the October 12, 2022, it was further alleged that she incited mutiny within the police service.
The SG said she was further called upon to appear before an administrative Board presided over by Senior Superintendent Bonginkosi Dlamini, on Friday October 14, 2022, to show cause why she should not be suspended from duty and from the activities of the police staff association.
“I wondered why I was given less than two days yet the allegations complained of are said to have taken place on September 3, 2022, which is over a month ago. The reason is obvious – to remove me from the police association before the return date of the petitions we had delivered,” submitted Khumalo.
The SG said she further wondered as to why only she was served with the ‘show cause’ letter since she was not the only member of the national executive committee (NEC) of the association.
She told the court that: “Clearly, this is victimisation of the highest order against me.”
According to Khumalo, as part of his repressive tactics, the NATCOM further allegedly ‘detained’ junior officers who were members of the police staff association and believed to be influential in the association by ordering them to report to the Police Headquarters on Monday October 17, 2022 where they were kept waiting from morning until around lunch-time without anyone attending to them or informing them why they were called. Khumalo alleged that the intention there was to intimidate the officers from participating in the activities of the association.
Interdict
The NATCOM, according Khumalo, also sought an interdict against the staff association from engaging in any form of a march, delivering any form of petition, engaging in strike action and from picketing.
“Virtually, the order was obtained on an ex parte basis at around noon on Tuesday October 18, 2022. The notice of motion was served upon the station commander at Malkerns where I am based. The station commander delivered the papers at my house at around 11pm to my children since I was not present thereon the night,”