BY MBONO MDLULI
LOBAMBA – The country needs more police officers, as the ones present are overwhelmed by the amount of work bestowed upon them.
This was said by Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini today during the 2023/24 performance debate of the Office of the Prime Minister in the House of Assembly. The Royal Eswatini Police Sefvice (REPS) is under the Prime Minister’s Office and during the debate, all of the MPs, who were over 35 in number, talked about the welfare of the police officers. The police organisation was the hot topic during the performance debate of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Speaking about the recruitment of more police officers, Dlamini told Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini that if it called for a supplementary budget to be passed, he should table it in Parliament so that the Legislators could pass it.
He said it became evident during the unrest in 2021 that more police officers were needed in the country. “Never mind the people who are going to call us a police state by so doing because your own figures are telling us that each police officer is responsible for investigating 15 cases per month and 180 cases per year. That is too much for a police officer,” Dlamini submitted.
Dlamini commended the police officers for having been able to arrest murders suspects of South Africa’s renowned Musician Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes and the murder suspects of Matsapha Businessman Sifiso Simelane. He said such acts made more Emaswati to be confident in their own members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS).
The MP said if Government recruited more police officers, that meant less pressure on the police who were already serving. The Lawmaker pleaded with police officers to deal with the new wave of crime that seemed to take the country by storm. “Our children are now joining these crime gangs of 26s and 28s. I urge the police to deal with this once and for all because our children are becoming criminals,” Dlamini said.
Mayiwane MP Prince Sicelo Dlamini, a former police officer, pleaded with the PM to consider creating a portfolio of police officers, with its own minister. MP Sicelo was of the view that the Prime Minister had a lot on his plate, yet the issues of the police officers were many. In his view, it became a huge burden for the PM to cater for the police yet he had his own issues to look after.
The Mayiwane MP further complained about the junior police officers, whose issues surrounding what became known as Phase II, were not resolved. Dlamini said senior police officers were paid salary increments at some point under Phase I and in 2015, junior officers were supposed to be paid their salary increments under Phase II.
When that was supposed to be implemented, the junior police officers were told about a consultant that was supposed to be roped in to settle the matter, which never happened, eight years later. As a result, the MP said the police went on a strike in 2021 and that was six years since 2015. He said some of those officers were suspended on full pay. He hoped that they would be called so that it could be found if they were wrong or not.
He further mentioned that Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko roped in a consultant in October 2022, giving them 12 months to find out how the junior police officers were to be paid. However, the MP said that did not happen. He pleaded for this matter to be put to rest, without any kind of scuffles between the concerned parties.
Nkhomiyahlaba MP Mduduzi Mantunta Dlamini pleaded with the police organisation to ensure that officers were promoted accordinglu, and not through favouritism. MP Mantunta, another former police officer, suggested that a police who served under one rank for a long time should skip certain ranks because of the experience acquired. He said in some security organisations, a constanble could be promoted to become an inspector, instead of being a seargeant, which was the next rank after being constable.
He said he served for 23 years in the orgabisation, without being promoted. He had been a constable for this period. Gege MP Magesi Dlamini suggested that after 10 years, a police officer should be promoted and the favouristism should stop.
