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MBABANE – Correctional officers, who were based at Balekane Correctional Services facility in 2017, have denied stripping former MP Charles Myeza naked in front of other inmates.

The former Kubuta Member of Parliament (MP), who is suing government for E10 million for the incident, told the court that he had never been naked in front of other men in his life, except in the presence of his wife, indoors. Myeza told the court that he was humiliated by the warders and his rights and dignity were violated.

The alleged incident happened on July12, 2017 at Balekane Correctional Service, where the former MP was serving a sentence of five years for fraud. He had been found guilty of unlawfully receiving about E600 000 from government for services that were never rendered and or partly rendered by his company, PPC Electrical (Pty) Ltd, back in 2005.

Myeza accused the Correctional officers of ordering the inmates to strip naked during a routine search for foreign objects and substances in the cells and mocking their ‘starving’ private parts.

Yesterday three Correctional officers who were based at the Balekane facility during Myeza’s incarceration, testified and they all disputed that the former MP was stripped naked in front of other inmates and that one Sipho ‘Malalephenduka’Dlamini used a baton to playfully spank the inmates’ buttocks and touched their private parts while singing ‘tinkhwa timbili tamabelengwa .... ’.

One of the Correctional officers, Lucky Nhlanhla Dludlu, who was based at Balekane Correctional Services facility in 2017, told the court that procedurally, they conducted searches in the cells for anything that might compromise security. He said on the day in question, they were searching for dagga.

Dludlu submitted that Balekane Correctional Services facility was situated in an area where there was a lot of dagga farming. On the day of the search, according to Dludlu, who was the acting officer-in-charge during the period, they were searching for dagga as there was a lot of dagga smoking in the prison. He informed the court that he did not enter the cells during the search but remained outside to monitor the situation. According to Dludlu, they found dagga and some sharp objects in one of the cells. He submitted that Myeza was housed in a cell occupied by trusted and well behaved inmates.

When Principal Crown Counsel Ndabenhle Dlamini asked Dludlu if he heard any singing, hymning or recitation of a poem during the search, the latter said he did not. During cross-examination, Dludlu informed the court that there was no report of any violation of inmates’ rights that was filed after that particular search. He said he read about Myeza’s alleged rights violation in newspapers.

Dludlu stated that after seeing the newspaper articles, a team of officers was assigned to investigate the matter. He said he was not aware what the investigation found, as he was not part of it.

He submitted that he did not know anything about Myeza’s allegation that his rights were violated by ‘Malalephenduka’. “I don’t know if his rights were violated as I never got a report to that effect,” said Dludlu. He told the court that, depending on the circumstances and what was being searched for, inmates were at times stripped naked, even though it was not common.

Meanwhile, Officer Sipho ‘Malalephenduka’ Dlamini said he did not see Myeza during the day of the search. Myeza’s attorney, Leo Ndvuna Dlamini, told Sipho that the former MP had submitted that he had been violated by him (‘Malalephenduka’).

Malalephenduka disputed that he used a baton to spank the naked inmates, including Myeza, on the buttocks while singing ‘tinkhwa timbili tamabelengwa...’. “It is not true. We respected Myeza as a former MP and police officer. He was kind and there was no way we could do that to him,” he said. Leo said Myeza had pointed out that Malalephenduka violated his rights and dignity by stripping him naked, old as he was. Malalephenduka said he never stripped the former MP naked.

Another Correctional officer who was based at Bhalekane Correctional Services facility in 2017, Sifiso Glen Dlamini, also testified. Leo told him that Myeza was suing government for alleged violation of his right and dignity. Sifiso denied that he touched Myeza on the day in question. “I did not touch Myeza. I only touched his bed and box where he kept his items and that was it,” he said.

Government representative, Ndabenhle, told Sifiso that sometimes work was well executed when singing and asked him if there was any singing on the day in question. Sifiso said nobody sang on the day. Myeza said during the search, the inmates were ordered to stand facing the wall and place their hands against it. He said they complied. “There was this song which was sung to belittle a person; it goes ‘Tinkhwa timbili tamabelengwa...’ . Officer Malalephenduka Sipho Dlamini was singing that song while playfully touching our buttocks with a baton. He was part of the officers who were searching us and was a sergeant at the time. He was using the baton to prod our private parts and they were mocking the sizes of our private parts and saying ‘hhawu Nkosi yami, loku kuyalamba’. In the end they just switched off the lights and went out. In jail you are as good as dead,” narrated Myeza.

Myeza also demanded E9 365 219 for unlawful detention. He and government presented different versions of when the former MP should have been released from prison. The E600 000 he is claiming for allegedly being humiliated by the Correctional officers is one of the five claims Myeza has failed against government, which forms part of the amount of E9 365 217. The matter is pending before Judge Zonke Magagula.