By Zweli Martin Dlamini
Africa-Press – Eswatini. National Commissioner of Police Manoma Masango through Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati has promised to launch an investigation into the ongoing suicide death of junior police officers.
This comes after another junior cop based at Lobamba Police Station killed himself on Tuesday morning, a few days after the death of Malkerns based cop Lucky Vilakati.
Perhaps, let me bring to the attention of the Nation that, Spokesperson Phindile Vilakati is another equally financial frustrated cop, before being promoted into the position of Senior Superintendent about four(4) years ago, she almost committed suicide.
I will not divulge the full contents of her situation because she shared some of the information in confidence while I was working on a story where she was running away, failing to pay-back someone she was owing a mere one thousand five hundred Rands(R1,500.00).
Now, Phindile Vilakati claims to be unaware of the financial challenges facing junior police officers when in fact, she is also facing the same problem as the promotion did not solve her financial challenges.
Well, because Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati is compromised and can’t speak, this article will act as her voice as well, police officers are struggling in this country and one day we might wake-up to news suggesting that, even the Police Spokesperson has killed herself.
I don’t blame Phindile Vilakati in all this, she is also an equally frustrated cop, when I called her for a comment on the R1,5000.00 story she said;
“Ngabe sengubani-ke Zweli lolosangicebe kuwe kutsi ngiyamkweleda ngoba ngikweleda bantfu labanengi kakhulu kumatima”.
Furthermore, Police Spokesperson Phindile Vilakati told me that, her refusal not to officially respond was not her personal decision but a Government position.
So junior police officers must not perceive their Spokesperson as the problem, she is speaking or communicating the position of the Executive Command, when you speak to her on the sidelines, you will hear the real frustrated Phindile.
But in this country, there’s a tendency of oppressing emaSwati and this started with teachers, nurses, firefighters and now, it’s security officers.
The oppression is purely financial, police officers were denied their salary increment under Phase two(II), it’s been ten(10) years now and the current salaries have drastically lost financial value.
It is therefore absurd for the National Commissioner to pretend as if, he doesn’t know the problem, the solution here is money not an investigation.
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