Times Of Swaziland: VIOLENT PROTESTS DAMAGES AT OVER E1.8 MILLION SO FAR

VIOLENT PROTESTS DAMAGES AT OVER E1.8 MILLION SO FAR
================================================================================
BY STANLEY KHUMALO on 29/06/2021 08:56:00


MANZINI – The cost of the carnage caused by violent protests in the country is
said to be over E1.8 million, so far.
However, this is an inconclusive amount as the value of the products is still
being calculated in the various constituencies. According to the Chief Police
Information and Communications Officer, Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, the
total cost of the damage in the two shops looted at Siphofaneni is E291 000. One
of the shops had items valued at E174 000 stolen when it was pelted with stones
and broken into during the violent protest that left the rural town looking like
a warzone. During the skirmish, one of the shops, which belonged to a Pakistani
national, Ahmid Hassan, was vandalised and looted.
Emptied
The shop had almost all its contents emptied by people believed to be the
protesters, while its owner was asleep inside. The vandals pelted the shop
window panes with stones before gaining entry to take some of the items in
stock. Outside Hassan’s shop were stones and rocks which were supposedly used
to pelt the window panes and also break the door in order to gain entry.
Vilakati said the other shop had goods valued at E117 000 stolen.
She also said the horse and trailer truck that was transporting an excavator was
valued at E1.4 million. In this incident, the horse was smouldered into ashes
with debris of the frame lying on the ground. What remained intact was its
chassis which anchored a few charred debris and the remnants of its engine. As
much as its trailer was not severely damaged as its tyres were still intact, the
excavator it was transporting was scorched save for the boom, arm and bucket.
Vilakati further said a truck in Mbabane had items worth E75 000 plundered
during a protest. She said police were still computing the carnage in the other
constituencies. “The challenge we are facing is computing the value of some of
the destroyed structures,” she said. Worth noting is that in some roads
signage in the constituencies and guard rails were uprooted and set alight in
the motorways such that it blocked traffic. Also, buildings were pelted with
stones while the Eswatini Government Revenue offices and the Eswatini Government
Home Affairs offices at Siphofaneni were set alight; but the fire was
extinguished before their contents were destroyed.
Meanwhile, Vilakati extended a plea to the citizenry, and those behind the
protests, to refrain from torching trucks as some transported combustible items
which posed a danger to the public, inclusive of the protesters.
She also emphasised that it was a crime to destroy people’s property.