Swazi police disrupt funeral of Sipho Jele

By Peter Kenworthy, Communications- and Project Assistant

The funeral of Sipho Jele, the Pudemo activist who died in custody at the hands of Swazi police, was yesterday (16 May) disrupted by Swazi police. The more than 300 police officers in riot gear that were present at the funeral not only arrested and detained at least three of the over 500 peaceful mourners, but also “forcefully took away everything which bore PUDEMO colours and stripped the cloth which was used as a cover to the casket of the coffin”, according to Africa Contact’s sources within the democracy movement in Swaziland. The police also smashed pictures of the deceased with the inscription “Rest in Peace Comrade Sipho Jele”, that were hanging in the tent where the service was being held.
Several of the speakers had attacked the Swazi government in their speeches, including representatives of The Swaziland National Union of Students, The Swaziland National Association of Teachers and political party, the NNLC.

Instead of endangering the entire funeral party, Jele’s family decided to stop the funeral service and take the body back to the mortuary, with Pudemo leader Mario Masuku , reduced to tears, remonstrating with police officers. “The environment was not conducive as we cannot burry our dead under the barrel of a gun and police harassment and intimidation”, stated our source in Swaziland, who believed that Jele’s family would now attempt to “seek for an order in court to restrain the cops from this behaviour and allow the dead to be buried peacefully”.

Siphi Jele’s death in police custody has met with outrage throughout the world, an outrage that will not lessen after this latest incident. Scores of articles have dealt with the increasingly desperate behaviour of the Swazi regime in South African, English and Danish newspapers and on online news outlets such as Afrol News, ZIA Network, and IOL News. Many unions, such as the TUC and the International Trade Union Federation, and NGOs, such as Amnesty International, ACTSA and Africa Contact, have also condemned the actions of the Swazi regime.