Times Of Swaziland: CAR TRAVELLING THABANI’S MUM SHOT

CAR TRAVELLING THABANI’S MUM SHOT
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BY SIBUSISO ZWANE AND STANLEY KHUMALO on 13/07/2021 08:32:00


MANZINI - A car which was travelling the late Thabani Nkomonye’s mother was
shot, allegedly by the police.
The incident allegedly took place on Sunday evening around 8pm at Ngwane Park.
The mother of Thabani, Siphiwe Mkhabela was travelling with a 34-year-old man,
who was driving, when the incident happened. According to an impeccable source,
the car was supposedly shot once while at Ngwane Park, but luckily, no one was
injured. The source claimed that the police who are purported to have shot the
car, were part of a team which was deployed to patrol around Manzini and
surrounding areas, including Ngwane Park. He said after the incident, the duo
went home and yesterday morning, they went to the Manzini Police Station, where
they reported the matter and opened a case against the police. After reporting
the matter, the source claimed that the police promised the complainant that
they would investigate it and give a report.
Deployed
He alleged that the police said their investigation would start with getting the
list of the officers who were deployed to patrol around the area on the day in
question and they would then find out how the shooting incident took place. When
reached for comment, Mkhabela said she could only confirm that the car she was
travelling in on Sunday night was shot, allegedly by the police. She asked not
to comment about the incident until she received a report from the police, who
promised her that they would investigate and revert to her. On the other hand,
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile
Vilakati said there were over 20 vehicles that were found at Ngwane Park. She
said the cars were found there after 8pm and the people were ordered to
disperse, but they did not comply. She said when the police emphasised to the
people to disperse, they did not and other means were used. However, Vilakati
said a complaint was reported with the police that a vehicle was shot while at
Ngwane Park on Sunday.
Investigate
“We are still trying to investigate on what happened and how was the car
shot,” she said. Worth noting is that as a stringent way to restrict the
spread of COVID-19, government set an 11-hour curfew, between 6pm-5am. During
this period, the public is encouraged to be at home. Thabani is the 25-year-old
University of Eswatini Law student who went missing on the night of Saturday May
8, 2021 after the car, a Mazda II Demio, which he was driving, was said to have
been involved in a road traffic accident at Nhlambeni, along the
Mhlaleni/Nhlangano Public Road. After the accident, his body was not located. It
was eventually discovered five days later, on May 13, 2021 and it was about 20
metres from where the car was found. It is worth mentioning that Thabani’s
mother is one of the key witnesses in the ongoing inquest into his death.