Times Of Swaziland: LISWATI TELLS COPS: I WAS TRAINING FOR COUP WITH 300 OTHERS IN MOZst

LISWATI TELLS COPS: I WAS TRAINING FOR COUP WITH 300 OTHERS IN MOZst
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Stanley Khumalo on 17/04/2023 08:40:00


MBABANE – The police are skeptical of a man alleging that he was part of 28
locals training in Mozambique in anticipation to stage a coup d’é·tat.
This publication has gathered that about a fortnight ago, a man handed himself
over to security personnel at Mhlumeni in the Lubombo Region. The man was said
to have first handed himself over to members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence
Force (UEDF) based along the Mhlumeni – Siteki Public Road. According to
sources, when handing himself to the security personnel, the man supposedly
relayed to them that he was part of 28 people recruited locally to form part of
a 300-people-militia group set to stage a coup d’é·tat in the country. A
coup d’é·tat is defined as a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power
from a government.
The UEDF personnel are said to have taken the man to the Royal Eswatini Police
Service (REPS) officers in Siteki. According to sources, the man was interviewed
on his allegations by the law enforcers at the police station over a number of
days. It was gathered from sources that the man supposed to have been recruited
into joining the so-called militia group with a promise of earning E10 000
monthly. According to sources, the man in his version of events, claimed that
they were lured to render security services with a monthly remuneration of E10
000. In the country, according to the Labour Survey of 2021 conducted by the
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, youth unemployment stands at 58.2 per
cent, while the overall unemployment rate in the kingdom is at 33.3 per cent,
which was an acute increase from 23.4 per cent recorded in 2016.
Meanwhile, the man was said to have informed the law enforcers that after
partaking in the training, the anticipated remuneration was said to have not
been forthcoming. He supposedly informed the security personnel that when he
arrived in Mozambique, there were other emaSwati already in training with some
Mozambican nationals. The man was said to have purported that the Mozambican
nationals were former members of certain rebel groups in the hosting State. It
was gathered that the man, in his narration of events, supposed that they had
been training for over three months.
Training
However, the man was said to have claimed that he had left the secluded training
facility in Mozambique because the supposed remuneration was not forthcoming,
while also their welfare was not catered for. In his alleged three-month stay at
the supposed training facility, the man supposed that in the first month, they
engaged in physical training, which was followed by tactical fighting using
firearms. Sources claimed that as part of the investigation into vetting the
veracity of the man’s allegations, he was supposedly given a gun to dismantle
and re-assemble it. The sources claimed that with ease, the man engaged in the
exercise. Furthermore, the man was said to have insisted that a certain
political leader had visited their training facility at some point and informed
them that they were making a sacrifice for generations to come. He further
claimed that the man was particular with the area in which the supposed training
was taking place. They claimed that the man insisted that he could lead the
security personnel to it.
He was said to have informed the law enforcers that before supposedly fleeing
from the training facility, he had tried to reason with some of the emaSwati
that they were on a losing battle.
He supposed that his challenge was that they would be outnumbered in the country
and that their firearms would be insufficient for the purported mission.
However, his countrymen supposedly did not buy into his reasoning, which led to
him fleeing the training camp. The sources claimed that there were elements of
truth in some of the things the man said; but they argued that there were events
which did not correspond with his time frames. The sources claimed that the man
had alleged that the coup would be staged just before the final stages of the
elections. They claimed that he outlined that the plan was to render the country
ungovernable before a particular political leader returned to the country with
the hope of negotiations ensuing.
Meanwhile, some of the allegations made by the man cannot be repeated in the
interim as they could not be verified. This publication has it in authority that
the said man was interviewed by law enforcers over several days before being
released to his family. The allegations reported and recorded by the police came
after claims that a group of locals were recruited and trained in South Africa
(SA). Some of the men who were supposedly trained in SA were arrested by the
police and face 38 charges, which three of them are related to being found in
possession of illegal firearms and violating the Suppression of Terrorism Act.
They are, among other charges, accused of being involved in the murder and
attempted murder of law enforcement officers in different parts of the country.
They are accused to be members of a group known as Swaziland Solidarity Forces.
The commander of this group is said to be a former police officer. The
similarities in the allegations also include the hardships endured while in
training, such as the lack of financial resources and also the failure to attain
the promised financial reward.
Arrested
Meanwhile, REPS reported that it had arrested 10 suspects who were involved in
over 16 politically motivated and/or terrorism-related cases committed from year
2021 to date.The police, in their annual report ended January 31, 2023, stated
that the suspects were arrested and are currently undergoing processes of the
country’s justice system. These cases, the police reported, included but not
limited to murders (including the killing of police officers and members of the
other security forces), attempted murders, suppression of terrorism,
contravention of the Arms and Ammunition Act, armed robbery, malicious injury to
property, arson and kidnapping. The police reported that investigations were
still actively ongoing to bring to book other suspects linked to these
destructive acts of criminality. Conversely, Deputy Police Information and
Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni confirmed that a man handed
himself to the police with certain allegations. Mnguni, however, said, when they
interviewed the man and in their investigations, they concluded that his
information was not credible.