Times Of Swaziland: MOB KILLS ‘SOLDIER’ IN ILLEGAL RAID

MOB KILLS ‘SOLDIER’ IN ILLEGAL RAID
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Timothy Simelane on 16/07/2022 08:52:00


BHAWHINI – A man, alleged to be a soldier, was tortured to death by an angry
mob at Bhahwini, after he and three accomplices conducted an unofficial raid at
a homestead. The four men who according to eyewitnesses were dressed in army
camouflage, carrying rifles, were overpowered by an elderly man and his son who
were armed with a bush knife and a spear in the late night hours of Thursday.
Bhahwini is a rural area in the outskirts of Mankayane. One of the attackers was
stabbed with a spear, but managed to escape the father and son duo. This was the
second time in a space of a month the family was attacked by unknown people. The
motive of the attack remains unknown and is a subject of police investigation.
Though soldiers in the country are known to carry rifles known as the Galil Ace
21, none of the family members were able to identify the rifles carried by the
men as the incident occurred in the dark.
Scuffle
After the scuffle, the rifle was recovered and handed over to the Mankayane
police. The wo family members who had armed themselves with the traditional
weapons also sustained injuries during the confrontation. The four men are said
to have attacked the Tsela family at around 10pm, while pronouncing themselves
to be officers  of the law who were conducting a raid. However, when they met a
strong resistance, violence reigned supreme resulting in an armed confrontation
between the two family members and the armed visitors. The head of the family
Msenge Tsela (67) said he was asleep in his thatched hut when he heard screams
for help coming from another house in which his son Lwazi was sleeping, about 30
metres away.
“I sprang up, grabbed my spear and ran out in my underwear towards my son’s
house. I suddenly noticed that there were people outside the house who were
holding big rifles and as I drew near they shot at me, but missed. I then
decided to run after them and managed to stab one of them with a spear,” he
said. Tsela said he then noticed that his son was also wrestling one of the men,
while his gun had fallen to the ground. He said when it became clear that he and
his son were overpowering the men, they fled. The father and son said they
chased after two of them who fled towards the western side of the homestead,
while still carrying guns.
Stumbled
One of the gunmen stumbled onto a rocky area and fell, banging his face against
a rock. Msenge, who was a few paces behind him, said he found him lying on the
ground, while his gun had also fallen about a metre away. “I took the gun and
hit him on the head with its butt. By that time, other family members and
neighbours had responded to the screams for help and came closer to assist,”
he said. Meanwhile, another member of the gunmen is said to have escaped to a
nearby wattle forest, where he fired a gunshot, probably in an effort to scare
away the family members from where his  counterpart was lying.
Msenge said the man who was apprehended was later brought to the family yard
where questions were asked on his identity and what their intention was. “He
refused to cooperate and said we would rather kill him than for him to state
what the intention of attacking the homestead really  was,” Msenge said.
Meanwhile, the elderly man said all amount of probing by family members and
neighbours failed to yield fruit as the man did not respond to their questions.
Police were then called from Mankayane and arrived about an hour later, where
they found the injured man still within the family compound. The man was
eventually taken to the Mankayane Government Hospital but he died along the way
to hospital. It is suspected that  he succumbed to injuries however no
post-mortem has been conducted yet and police are still  investigating.
Msenge assisted the police yesterday as they combed the area for gun cartridges
to help in the investigation.  Traces of blood were also seen along the
direction in which the injured suspects fled. There were no other raids in the
area which compounds speculation that the family had been targeted.
Msenge said along with the gun, the man was also found in possession of 16 live
rounds of ammunition in his pocket.
Interrogation
A neighbour, who had also responded to the calls for help said during
interrogation, by the community members, the deceased had given out a phone
number, which he said was of a next of kin. “He refused to state why he was in
the Tsela homestead, so we decided to make him give us the number of a family
member. He said he however, did not call the number, but gave it to the police
for investigations,” the community member said, declining to be named.
Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Phindile
Vilakati confirmed the incident and said reports that came in were to the effect
that one person died and others sustained injuries. “It was said that the men
were pretending to be police officers but were dressed in army camouflage  when
they approached the family members. For now, no one has been arrested as we have
opened an inquiry file,” she said. She said the other accomplices in the crime
had still not been found. When police searched the area yesterday they found the
tooth of the deceased on the rocks.
Public Affairs Officer in the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) Tengetile
Khumalo said her office had no record of the alleged incident.
“There is no operational report that has been forwarded nor conveyed to my
office with regard to the alleged issue at hand,” she said. Meanwhile, inside
sources in the army revealed the name of the soldier but it could not be
published as his next of kin had not been informed.