Times Of Swaziland: CHILD (7) BURNS AS  SOLDIER’S HOUSE  PETROL-BOMBED

CHILD (7) BURNS AS  SOLDIER’S HOUSE  PETROL-BOMBED
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Thokozani Mazibuko and Joseph Zulu on 15/10/2022 07:43:00


BUHLENI – It is a miracle that Dumisile Maseko the wife to soldier Polycarp
Maseko and her child aged seven are still alive.
Polycarp’s house was also targeted by arsonists who threw a petrol bomb
inside. He was not at home at the time but his wife was around. On the same
night, a house belonging to a warder was also petrol-bombed. These incidents
happened at a time when junior officers at His Majesty’s Correctional Services
(HMCS) and Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) are at loggerheads with their
superiors over non-implementation of phase II of salary increments.
According to Dumisile, she was asleep at around 3am when she heard what sounded
like footsteps outside the house.
She said she was not bothered about it because she assumed that it was cattle
that usually roamed freely around the homestead. However, little did she knew
that she was only a few seconds away between a life or death situation.
It turned out that the footsteps she had heard were of people about to burn her
and her child alive. Dumisile said she then heard a window breaking and saw a
bright light. It was a petrol bomb. She said the petrol bomb hit at the back of
a cupboard and then she realised that they were being attacked.
Kill
She also decried that whoever threw the petrol bomb into the house was trying to
kill the people inside. The soldier’s wife said she quickly picked up a bucket
that had been  used for urinating and threw the urine into the fire. She said
this put out the fire on the curtain but some of the petrol had splashed on
other parts of the house. Dumisile said in the process, her child was burnt in
the hand. She said as she prepared to get out of the house with the child,
another petrol bomb was thrown in, but despite breaking through the window, it
did not go off.
She said this was a miracle because had it exploded, she would have been burnt
alive together with her child. Dumisile said she would have not been able to put
out the second petrol bomb fire if it had exploded. She said as they managed to
manoeuvre out of the room they were in, only then they realised that the lounge
was also on fire. “I was now convinced that we were under attack and were
going to die in those flames,” she said. She said she was not sure why her
home was targeted but did not rule out that this was because her husband was a
soldier.
“They view him as Mangololo and nowadays one is harmed for having a differing
opinion from others,” she said sombrely. Mangololo is a term used to describe
someone who is pro the current system of government.