TRUCKS BURNT, SHOPS LOOTED AT SIPHOFANENI

SIPHOFANENI – Charred metal and ash are remnants of two horse and trailer trucks, after protesters went on a rampage at Siphofaneni on Saturday night.

This is just a fraction of the aftermath left by a violent protest that entailed looting and vandalism in this rural town located in the central eastern part of the kingdom - about 45 kilometres from Manzini and 20 kilometres from Big Bend. At the climax of the violent protest, which was organised to deliver a petition to the Siphofaneni Constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Simelane, a South African registered horse and trailer truck was looted of its contents – sugar – and later torched. The truck, in a circulating visual footage shared on social media platforms, was seen parked along the road just before Phuzumoya as protesters were burning tyres and blocking the road. While it was parked, some people were seen opening its rear doors and offloading its contents, which were said to be sugar. This drew a crowd and resulted in people jostling to get a portion of what was being looted. Later on, the truck was set alight. Yesterday morning, the remnants of the truck were towed away from the scene.   

Torched

Also, just across the Great Usuthu River Bridge, a horse and trailer truck ferrying an excavator was torched. In this incident, the horse was smouldered into ashes with debris of the frame lying on the ground. What remained intact was its chassis which anchored a few charred debris and the remnants of its engine. As much as its trailer was not severely damaged as its tyres were still intact, the excavator it was transporting was scorched save for the boom, arm and bucket. The chaos was not limited to the torching of the trucks as a shop, run by a Pakistani national, was vandalised and looted as well. The shop belonging to Ahmid Hassan had almost all its contents emptied by people believed to be the protesters, while its owner was asleep within it. The vandals pelted stones on its window panes before gaining entry to take some of the items that were in stock. Yesterday morning, a few items were seen in the shelves while items were strewn on the floor which had fragments of the window panes. 

Hassan said: “Items valued at about E300 000 – E400 000 were taken.” Outside Hassan’s shop were stones and rocks which were supposedly used to pelt the window panes and also break the door in order to gain entry. Also, vandals made an effort at burning down the Eswatini Government Revenue Offices at Siphofaneni as its rear window panes were broken and the curtain blinds were set alight. Also, beneath the window was a wooden crate which was partially burnt while within the same premises there were patches of burnt grass with wooden debris next to the building.

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