Times Of Swaziland: GOVT: 4 PEOPLE PLANNING 2ND WAVE OF UNREST

GOVT: 4 PEOPLE PLANNING 2ND WAVE OF UNREST
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Siboniso Nkambule on 12/12/2023 17:34:00


MBABANE - Through its intelligence, government has reportedly found that four
people are orchestrating a second wave of the political unrest in the country.
The four, according to government, participated and lost in the 2023 General
Elections.The individuals in question are said to have allegedly travelled to an
overseas country, to solicit finances to sponsor the purportedly envisaged
political unrest, according to the Government Spokesperson, Alpheous Nxumalo.
Eswatini is fresh from the June/July 2021 unrest, which resulted in a number of
people losing their lives and further causing destruction to private and public
properties, to the value of E700 million.
Looted
Thousands of people lost their jobs, stock was looted from businesses and
buildings were vandalised. Government responded by establishing the
Reconstruction Fund. The fund was set up to assist formal and informal
businesses, which were affected, to rebuild after the unrest. Nxumalo, in a
statement, said government was aware of the individuals ‘enjoined in a
diabolical plan to orchestrate a second wave of a national unrest’. According
to the government spokesperson, some of the people in question wanted to be part
of the 12th Parliament, but they lost during the general elections.  “Voters
threw their candidature outright and therefore, they are angry, disgruntled and
are now dangerous political renegades,” Nxumalo said.
He explained that anyone who wanted to push the country into another experience
of social unrest does not have the country’s interests in the centre of their
activities, thus he warned the nation to stay away from such political elements.
Nxumalo stated that the four people were dangerous in society and they should be
locked up as they were not fit to be part of society. Adding, he said any second
wave of the unrest would be a deadly project for the country and economically
catastrophic for the public. Nxumalo went on to condemn all those who were
stalking violence and tensions in the country. “We cannot build a better and
prosperous Eswatini on faultiness but unity of purpose and coexistence,” he
said. Furthermore, the government mouthpiece also warned the people he was
referring to, whom he described as hell-bent elements, and their handlers and
sponsors, to desist from disturbing the peace and security of the kingdom. He
said the kingdom had invested a lot in cultivating and maintaining the peace and
security of the country.
“Anyone found on the wrong side of the law, shall obviously face the
consequences of offending the law,” Nxumalo warned. A purported plane ticket
for a flight from O.R Tambo International Airport Johannesburg to Shenzhen
International Airport in China, where it will arrive at 4:55am today, has been
seen by this publication. The flight is Air China 868, which is an Airbus
Industrie A350-900. The passenger was flying Economy and the flight was 12 hours
45 minutes.  This publication enquired from Nxumalo if government had any form
of documentation supporting the claims as some people may view this as
propaganda. Nxumalo was also asked about the steps government had taken after
becoming aware of the information and intentions of the four people.
Propaganda
In response, Nxumalo stated that government did not play propaganda. He said
they had shared enough information for one to dig further for more information,
with a view to dispute or complement what government said. He went on to clarify
that this was both an intelligence and security matter, which would not be
discussed in public spaces. Nxumalo explained that at political level, it was
important for government to indicate that they were aware of what was happening
and that they were seeing everything. Meanwhile, Chief Police Information and
Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said they did not
discuss issues of security publicly.