Times Of Swaziland: KING’S OFFICE LABELS GARDEE’S ALLEGATION WEIRD WITCH-HUNT

KING’S OFFICE LABELS GARDEE’S ALLEGATION WEIRD WITCH-HUNT
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Nhlanganiso Mkhonta on 03/08/2022 08:34:00


MBABANE – Director of Communications at the King’s Office Percy Simelane has
described the accusations made by South African politician Godrich Gardee as
weird witch-hunt.
Gardee is a South African politician who is the former Secretary General of the
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). On Monday, Gardee took to his Twitter page to
accuse the country’s authorities of orchestrating the kidnapping, raping and
brutal murder of his daughter, Hillary. Gardee alleged that this was propmted by
the border blockades held by the party back in April, which saw four borders
with Eswatini being closed for more than six hours. Some of the allegations
cannot be repeated as they cannot be substantiated.
When contacted by this publication yesterday, Simelane, said; “We refuse to
grace this weird witch-hunt with a comment save to point out that the murder in
question was investigated by the South African Police Service and suspects were
charged after intelligence had exhausted leads.” Three men were arrested in
May in connection with the murder of Gardee’s daughter and they have been
making their appearances in court since then. The suspects who were arrested in
connection with this case included one Philemon Lukhele, who is a member of the
local proscribed political party, the People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO). The other two accused persons are Sipho Mkhathswa and Albert Mduduzi
Gama.
Justice
When they made their first appearance in court, it was revealed that they were
facing six counts which were conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, rape, murder,
illegal possession of a firearm and defeating the ends of justice.
Government’s Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo shared the same sentiments as
Simelane, stating that there was absolutely no need for government to respond to
the wild and legally untested allegations made by Gardee. Nxumalo said, however,
the fact that this journalist had approached government, there was a need to say
something. He said the wild allegations did not deserve to be dignified with a
comment.
He stated that the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini had no history of
running after people in foreign soil for their respective political views but if
there was a need to do so, the law would be the government’s arbiter. Nxumalo
said Gardee was overpricing his political value. He added that border blockages
started as far as the 1990s by COSATU and none of those who participated were
ever threatened, let alone their families neutralised. He said the case of
Gardee’s daughter’s death was in the courts of that country (South Africa)
and some suspects had been apprehended and appeared in court. “So far,
there’s absolutely nothing that suggests involvement of foreign agencies in
the murder of his daughter. He claims he was targeted for having staged a 6-hour
border blockade with only 60 people,” said Nxumalo.
The government spokesperson said it sufficed to conclude that Gardee must not
attempt to export the unbridled criminal environment of his country to other
countries in the region.
Hillary Gardee, a 28-year-old IT graduate, was abducted from the Nelspruit Plaza
Spar at around 5pm on Friday, April 29, 2022. Passers-by found her lifeless body
several days later at the edge of a forest on a deserted stretch of the Sabie
road.