HOSEA PRAYER STOPPED, INDVUNA ACCUSED OF BEING SELL-OUT

MBABANE - Some Hosea residents have accused their Indvuna Yenkhundla, Richard Vilane, of being a sell-out.

This comes after police stopped a prayer service that was supposed to be held at Hosea Sports Ground on Saturday. Sicelo Mhlanga, one of the organisers of the prayer service, explained that before the prayer, they had some disagreements with Vilane. He said at first, Vilane seemed to be in support and leading them in their liberation struggle, but as days went by, they noticed that Vilane was allegedly applying double standards.

Mhlanga accused Vilane of supporting the calls for change in some instances, but would at times be seen allegedly being pro-Tinkhundla. He said when they pitched the idea for the prayer service, Vilane seemed to be against it, hence they then decided to sideline him in their planning sessions. Mhlanga said most of the residents welcomed the idea of the prayer service as they had engaged some local churches around Hosea to be part of it. He said one of the churches was the one near their incarcerated Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza’s parental home. He said this was the church where the MP’s mother fellowshiped. Mhlanga explained that on the day they started circulating the poster for the prayer service, Vilane expressed his dissatisfaction with it.

Engaged

He said Vilane then engaged him (Mhlanga) directly and asked him to stop using the name of the inkhundla on the poster as it was written at the top. Mhlanga argued that he saw nothing wrong with using the name of the inkhundla as they were planning the prayer service collectively as Hosea Inkhundla constituents.  “We are under Hosea Inkhundla in any event,” said Mhlanga. He said Vilane argued that they could not use the name of the inkhundla without having officially reported it to him.  Mhlanga alleged that Vilane then informed him that he would stop the prayer service through his lawyers and others. He said that was when he told Vilane that their MP knew about the prayer service and anyone who was supporting the incarcerated MP must not be against it.

Mhlanga alleged that what followed was that Vilane then called the police and gave them his and other organisers’ contact details. He said the other organisers whom Vilane gave police their numbers were Bhekani Nhleko and Neli Gwebu. Mhlanga alleged that police officers started calling them and asking them about the intended prayer service.  He said they asked the police where they got their numbers from and the law enforcers informed them that they got them from their indvuna yenkhundla, and that he had actually requested the police to stop the prayer service.

Mhlanga said no matter how much Vilane could defend himself, everyone at Hosea knew that he was the one who allegedly called the police. “Even those who were still siding with Vilane have lost trust in him following this incident,” said Mhlanga.  He also recalled that around August, Hosea was attacked by police who allegedly vandalised over 20 homesteads and shot two people with rubber bullets, stating that till this day, they were  wondering why police had so much anger towards Hosea Inkhundla.

Message

He said the first message they received that police were coming to the area was from Vilane, who told them that police would visit the area the next day. “Icall yekucala kusitjela kutsi kuta emaphoyisa yeta ngayo indvuna yenkhundla. Yatsi indvuna yenkhundla nilungiselele lapho kusasa kuta emaphoyisa,” said Mhlanga in vernacular. He said when the police came, they just went straight to one particular area at Hosea, known as Dvudvusini. He said Vilane had mentioned it on their WhatsApp group that the police were coming to that particular area.

Mhlanga mentioned that they asked Vilane why the police were coming to Hosea, but they did not get any response from him.  He said they were of the view that the police were just coming to dagga fields, but the law enforcers came straight to their homes where they vandalised their property, including cars and assaulted some of the residents.

Situation

Mhlanga noted that again, a situation involving the police has cropped up and Vilane’s name was in the mix. He said the manner in which these two incidents involving police occurred raised eyebrows over Vilane’s behaviour. “We are now wondering what Vilane’s intention is,” said Mhlanga.  When these allegations were narrated to Vilane, he  started off by explaining that he was not a permanent resident of Hosea, but rather of Nkoyoyo where he had his businesses.  He said what transpired was that since he was not around Hosea; he had a WhatsApp group with about 200 participants. He said he used this group to communicate with some of his electorates.

He said one particular day; a certain woman posted about the prayer service in the group. He said the poster was written Hosea Inkhundla at the top and it was not specific on who were the organisers of the prayer service. He said when the invite for the prayer service started circulating, he was delighted that Hosea people were working because the police would certainly not arrest all of them at once. The indvuna yenkhundla said he then called the woman who had initially posted the poster on their group and asked her to change the header which was written Hosea Inkhundla.  He said he told the resident to replace the Hosea Inkhundla with Hosea pastors.

Vilane said his intention was to ensure that the event proceeded without drawing the attention of the police. He said his advice was based on the fact that there  were so many pastors around the area hence it would be difficult for police to point out any of them and accuse them of organising the prayer service. Vilane explained that he was speaking from experience as he once had a case with police when he was held accountable for organising a gathering which saw over 3 000 people coming together while the COVID-19 regulations prohibited such a number of people in one place. He said another incident which saw him being put under scrutiny was when he organised a march at Hluthi. This was the march which was joined by the elders.

He explained that on another day, where there was a protest action at Hosea, police vandalised his car and went to his home where they harassed his aunt, thinking it was his wife. “I organised all these marches in support of the struggle and the incarcerated MP,” said Vilane. He said he was using his experience to protect the organisers of the event from being harassed by police.  Vilane narrated that upon advising the organisers to remove the ‘Hosea Inkhundla’ header from the poster, the three organisers told him that they would not listen to him because after all, he was not part of it in any way. “Batsi ngeke sive nga Vilane ngoba asikamfaki lana,” said Vilane in vernacular.

He said what then transpired was that on Wednesday, there were some residents who had planned to go join the TUCOSWA march that was scheduled to take place in all major towns in the country the next day. He said when these residents gathered at Hluthi, they found police officers, who made it impossible for them to go ahead with their intended march. The indvuna yenkhundla said they then started pinning up the posters for the intended prayer service. He noted that the posters had no contact person.

Posters

“The police called me and said they were seeing posters written Hosea Inkhundla, and they asked me what was happening at my inkhundla,” said Vilane. He said he got another call from Hluthi Police Station Commander, who asked him about the procedures to be followed whenever there was a gathering at the inkhundla.  He said he explained to the station commander and other senior police officers that he was not at home, but had seen posters regarding the planned prayer service. He said he told the police that he had engaged with the organisers not to use the inkhundla name for this event because should the inkhundla be involved, police would be involved.

Vilane said he understood that tinkhundla and royal kraals (imiphakatsi) were the pillars of the regime.  He said he was aware that whenever there would be people gathering at inkhundla, police would be there as well. Vilane explained that he then gave the police the contact details of the female resident who was circulating the poster because she was also one of the organisers. He claimed that the police tried calling her, but failed to reach her hence they came back to him and told him that they could not get hold of with the resident. Vilane said he then gave the police Mhlanga’s contact details as he was also one of the organisers of the intended prayer service. He said police then called Mhlanga, who allegedly ran away. He said Mhlanga called him (Vilane) and accused him of calling the police to hunt him down.

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