Times Of Swaziland: CHAOS IN NIGHT OF ARSON ATTACKS, LOOTING

CHAOS IN NIGHT OF ARSON ATTACKS, LOOTING
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BY SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO AND NHLANGANISO MKHONTA on 29/06/2021 08:59:00


MBABANE – There are already casualties of the #OperationKungahlwakwenile as
one protester has been shot.
The protester, who is 25 years old, was shot in the leg. It was not immediately
established which area the protester came from at the time of compiling this
report. Meanwhile, protest actions continued in areas surrounding the city,
including Msunduza, Mahwalala and Checkers, among others. Yesterday marked the
third day of the night protests after the one staged in Siphofaneni on Saturday.
At Msunduza Location, at around 8pm yesterday, a majority of the streets were
not accessible as skips belonging to the Municipal Council of Mbabane were
turned upside down and waste littered all over and set alight. There were also
huge rocks placed on the roads.
Protesters were also found on the streets singing political songs and issued
warnings to motorists to avoid some parts of the road as they would not pass
through.
At the time, there were no police officers visible in the area. It was only the
protesters. Around 8:30pm, the protesters were marching by the road passing
Solani’s Shisanyama. On another note, there were protesters at Mahwalala who
also started a fire in the middle of the road. At around 7pm, police arrived and
tried to disperse the crowd by firing tear gas. Along Cozy Corner and Checkers,
protesters were also blocking the road. When sought for comment on the matter,
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile
Vilakati said from where she was, there was nothing she could do. Vilakati said
police officers were deployed to other parts of the country and could not be all
over the place.
“I have no clue where these protests are taking place but I can assure you
that there are some officers who are responding to the situation,” she said.
It was gathered that officers from the Operational Support Service Unit (OSSU)
had been deployed as well to respond to the situation. Meanwhile, social media
was abuzz last night with insinuations that the army had also been deployed to
maintain order in various parts of the country. While no confirmation could be
obtained, it was stated that the members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force
(UEDF) had already been given orders on their next operation.When questioned on
the issue of alleged deployment of soldiers, UEDF Public Relations Officer
Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo stated that the army did not disclose their
operations.