Thursday, March 28, 2024

Leaked torture video cost ZNS instructors their jobs

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A video that leaked on social media showing Zambia National Service (ZNS) recruits being whipped by their instructors has cost five officers their jobs.

ZNS has dismissed the five military instructors for physically abusing recruits.

This follows investigations instituted after allegations of physical abuse on recruits at the training school in Kabwe emerged when a video was posted on Facebook showing the recruits being hazed as instructors laughed while recording the whipping of the recruits.

ZNS public relations officer Mable Nyone said in a statement yesterday that it has been proven that the instructors inflicted physical abuse on the recruits and ignored the Training Standing Orders.

“Following the apparent physical abuse of ZNS recruits during training at the ZNS Training School in Kabwe and the investigations that followed, it has been proven that the instructors went out of their way to inflict physical abuse on the recruits ignoring Training Standing Orders,” Lt Col Nyone said.

Lt Col Nyone said those dismissed include four officers and one serviceman, who were captured in the online video footage abusing the recruits.

She however could not name the dismissed officers.

60 COMMENTS

  1. Chase them and replace one with me..i desparately need a job..Pathetic Fools have made us jobless from the time they came into power…

    • This video reminds me of a soccer referee who gives out a Red card to a player who, to spectators appears to have done nothing wrong physically but the referee has had no choice because the player has insulted and threatened violence after the match.

      The recruits look very undisciplined to me. They must have been refusing to do that exercise and the instructors did not have a choice but to whip them, no even with belts as they used with some of us, but small sticks used in primary schools a few years ago. Yes, the recruits are mostly children of apamwambas. They look very weak and rude. Anyway, the officers should have known that they were not dealing with soldiers-to be but job seekers.

    • 1.2 What those recruits are doing boss is not an exercise, it is a VERY hard punishment we used to call masikiyo. It stretches all body sinews to the point of breaking in under a minute. I think masikiyo on its own should be illegal and merits sacking for the perpetrator.

  2. With technology you cannot hide anything. Even if you look over your shoulders you will still be caught.

    • THIS IS A GOOD ACT AGAINST THESE ILL-MANNERED ZNS OFFICERS. NEXT ARE THE ZAMBIA POLICE OFFICERS. MOST OF THESE GUYS ARE ABUSIVE BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW SINCE THEY ARE NEVER PUNISHED FOR SUCH II BEHAVIOR.

    • They have done nothing wrong, they are reciprocating what they went through.

      They probably went through the same thing

      They look dirty. just ISIS them for all I care

      Thanks
      Bb2014

  3. People are still living in the stone age and trying to torture others under the guise of giving tough training. Good punitive action by the ZNS Command. In fact those kids should now file charges of assault against the officers and his training instructors. I hope the officer filming the cruel act was also disciplined.

    • Grow up, You loss points on last sentence.. Why the person behind the camera filming should be displined. Would you have seen this as true incident if it was not that person? Don’t you think that those officers and instructors would deny torturing recruites without proper proof like this video???

  4. Inhuman treatment, those so called officers in this video seem not have proper knowledge of training recruits.. You must extend investigations to other places like the prison officers, how they treat the prisoners.

  5. This is disgraceful to see a commissioned officer behave like this. I don’t know what kind of trading these chaps get these days.

  6. Find out how US seals, Mrines and British Commandoes are trained. No beating but severe physical work outs. It’s voluntary they are not forced and they can quit at any stage during training. It’s about getting used to simulated battle lines and not torture like was seen in the video. What was the essence of TORTURING only and not impating the most desired military training?. No wonder when these ZNS pass out they go flat out raping women

  7. Take them to court and open charges against them. Sacking is not enough. There is more to this than meets the eye.

  8. It wasnt toture but a process in training where u ar trained to endure,all military personel undergo this process,the only problem now is that its only dependants being recruited that is y nowdays they passout have backed such that just a slap by a civilian a soldier starts crying anyway with this human rights at the helm things have diluted both in military and at home that is why we should just pray for GODs guidance not these have baked soldiers they cant defend us

    • @Wazabanga: Pray for God’s guidance?? God has given us wisdom to discern rights from wrongs. What needs to be done is a total departure from colonial and slave mentality to up-to-date mindsets. Civilized worlds are incorporating sensible and tactical ways of training their military personnel while ZNS boasts on ancient forms of military orientation. What a shame. And you gonna say, “It’s not torture” go and be part of that beating bonanza, see if u will not complain.

  9. instructors forgot that some recruits were children of majors, colonels, generals, police commissioners district commissioners, ministers and religous leaders. am so sorry for them, there must have been pressure on the command to deal with the instructors. unfortunaletly it costed their carrears. MWANA BWANA TEMUNOBE

    • Unfortunate that it cost their careers? Do you really think people like that deserve a job in “national service”?

      Good riddance is more like it!

  10. Uza chimwa. Fulama iwe.

    Any training needs to break an individual into small pieces before they build u up into military mindset. I see nothing horrible in this video. Even USA army recruits are drilled.

    • @Maloza,

      That is pure brutality and training or what you call drill. You are saying things from a point of total ignorance. I am surprised that the ill treatment of recruits is still going on at ZNS camps. As one of the pioneers of the 20 months compulsory national service for school-leavers I remember that there was a commission of inquiry to investigate the mistreating of recruits. If I am not mistaken the commission was led by Col. Nsemiwe of the Zambia Army. Brutality must not be tolerated. Not even commandoes of the best armies in the world go through such torture as part of training.

  11. It wasnt toture but a process in training al military personel hav undergone,nowdays we hav half bake soldiers coz of recruiting dependants

  12. Modern technology is civilizing evil people world over. Especially those in uniform.

    Viva President Nawakwi.

  13. Zambian Police, râpê women in police custody, they even had a room with a dirty mattress at Lusaka Headquarters were women arrested for “loitering” were/are râpêd

  14. Zambian military men, would they stand torture from the enemy camp? A soldier has to be strong to stand torture if captured by the enemy and with weak training one dies with just a slap…

  15. I’m glad these meat-heads got sacked! They will now be the ones feeling the pain of going to the labour office at Kamwala (if at all it still exists) early in the morning looking to be hired, while the people they were flogging will be driving around in flash cars. Besides, what we’ve seen in this video is only a tip of the rot that goes in state institutions especially, having grown up in a police camp myself.

  16. And to think, PF has “promised” to introduce mandatory ZNS training for school leavers! So, Mr. Kambwili, how’s that going?

    Indeed, what parent in their right mind would give their children over to these animals for so-called “training”?

    I especially hope the one who was laughing in the video saying “shut up” and “very nice” has been sacked! Imagine an adult (let alone an officer) who finds this funny. Probably in his spare time this fellow enjoys picking the legs off insects to make him feel “big” and “powerful”. Shame someone can be so small… let alone someone being paid a salary in the name of “national service”.

  17. This is disgusting. In the 21st Century, with a nation that has been independent for 50 years – I am beginning to understand the overall derelict state of the nation now, if this is still happening. Thank God for technology – more i.d.iots will be outed at this rate!

  18. Training must not be easy for military personnel. If you give this to us civilians its torture but to them this must be very easy procedure and hence a difference between them and us. The judgment being given to instructors is not fair at all revisit this act or no need for military training if we want our soldiers to be treated like children. NO! Try to check the rigorous training by navy seals of America. No wander our soldiers could be exposed to easy kidnaps by Foday Sanko in Sera- leon. Its such unnecessary cries. If training is like that let it be. Some issues may not be according to written instructions but norms for military training. VIVA ZNS instructors we want strong military personnel and not feeble civilians flooding national payrolls in the military.

  19. Even at boarding school that was normal….for a form 1 or form 3 eventually you learn and toughen up.I have watch the seal training, the may not whip, however this video is nothing in comparison.

    • You watched a SEAL training video, you’re saying form 1 and form 3, you said “Even at boarding school that was normal …….learn and toughen up”. Do you live on another planet or you are still with us on Earth? Come to 2015 please I’m officially inventing you.

  20. Though unacceptable, such conditions are not unusual in national service training camps.

    Simillar incidents in the German Bundeswehr caused indignation a few years ago – in a so-called “fox-test”, some recruits narrated how they were forced to eat raw pig’s liver and drink liters of alcohol until they vomitted. The marines are also full of reports of rape and other abuse.

  21. Its in inhuman treatment of the worst kind. You don’t whip someone to make them strong. Just give them tasks like running frog jumping squtting press-ups weight lifting even manual work etc instead of the rubbish that we’ve just seen. That’s torture and culprits shouldn’t only be discharged but Court Marshaled so that others learn from them.

  22. This issue has to do with Africa. Just telling a black African person that you are a boss over another.Such things never take place in Europe.Army, ZAF, Police is the same in Zambia where people are tortured and it is called military training.

    • The Zambian police & military routinely engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including torture… interviewed prisoners at six prisons throughout Zambia’s central corridor. They described what happened to them in police custody, before they were transferred to prison. Dozens of detainees said they had been beaten with metal bars, hammers, broom handles, police batons, sticks, or even electrified rods. Many said they had been bound first and hung upside down. Female detainees reported that police officers tried to coerce sex in exchange for their release.

      “Hanging suspects from the ceiling and beating them to coerce confessions is routine police practice in Zambia,” said Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “

  23. This where young people learn about violence. What would you expect from these young men in terms of managing their subordinates? When the same young men become politicians they will do exactly the same thing. Typical stone age mentality.

  24. QUOTE:- On July 17,in Kalulushi,after observing that police
    ignored his complaint about a stolen mobile phone, James Chishimba informed police he felt unfairly treated.
    The police officers on duty, angered by Chishimba’s remarks, beat and detained him.
    The officers injured Chishimba and later offered him a bribe of 2,000 Kwacha ($368)
    to cover up the incident.
    Chishimba declined and sued for compensation.
    There were no investigations into these alleged police abuses during the year.
    Officers who beat or otherwise abused suspects generally were not disciplined or arrested unless the abuses led to death and became public.
    In contrast with 2012, human rights groups received
    reports of police demanding sex from female detainees as a condition of their release………

  25. THAT IS NOT ENOUGH- DISMISS THE ZAMBIA NATIONAL SERVICE GENERAL. HE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS TO RECRUITS BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER EVERY TRAINING SESSIONS. HE/SHE DOESN’T DESERVE COMMANDING THE ZNS. IF HE/SHE CLAIMS LACK OF KNOWLEDGE, THAT ALSO DESERVES DISMISSAL FOR BEING SO DULL AND STILL COMMAND A MILITARY SECTION IN ZAMBIA. IN FACT THE TORTURED MUST SHOULD SUE ZNS FOR INFLICTING PAIN ON THEIR BODIES. THAT SCENE IS SIMILAR TO ALKAIDA TORTURING THEIR VICTIMS BEFORE BE-HEADING THEM. EVEN IF THERE’S LACK OF JOBS IN ZAMBIA THAT’S NOT THE WAY TO DEAL WITH THE YOUTH. THAT’S CRUELTY BY ILLITERATES AT IT’S WORST IN A SO CALLED CHRISTIAN COUNTRY.

  26. But that is nothing compared to what the caders treat others. That is a military wing for heavens sake. Don’t expect to be treated like a chicken. YOU CHAPS.

  27. This is nothing compared to what we went through at the hands of kk. These thugs got this from their masters. You know who.

  28. If you want lady treatment go and join amcor security or securico. Africa is full of rebels and you cannot have sisi training for military. Every one knows the seals have the best equipment and the backing of drones and USA soldiers are not the most disciplined in the world. The guy to be arrested is the camera person for releasing classified information to civilians. Back then the mutiko, belt and the very stick in the video was a welcome visitor in brining up kids. Today the council has to go and pull out kids from the bar and brothels…..Keep up the good work ZNS. I have many colleagues whose lives have been straighten by that very training.

  29. Where is the video? I am very curious to see what is being condemned so much. Treat your soldiers like eggs during training but remember that the enemy will be aiming at killing them.

  30. Those uneducated instructors is how they were ill treating even us during the compulsory form 5 military training during Kaunda time (06 intake). That time we had NO where to complain! I recall what happened when we demonstrated at Kasama military camp due to poor conditions at the camp. We really suffered! The uneducated instructors, some could even hardly write their names, really ill treated us with funk roll, frog jumps, and others. Squeeze their ball as they used to treat us!

  31. Very interesting debate.I am just imagining how our would soldiers would behave when caught behind enemy lines.Just a simple beating and they reveal all secrets.There are no human rights in real war situations.Anyone aspiring to be a soldier must be ready to face any situation,including physical torture.Otherwise our barracks will be full of chickens.

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