SECURITY CONCERNS AFTER ARSON AT UNESWA

MATSAPHA - Security concerns continue to haunt the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), Kwaluseni Campus, as an arson attack was experienced yesterday morning.

This happened at a time when the administration of the institution of higher learning had engaged the services of two security companies (VIP and Guard Alert) to ensure the safety of lives and property. On top of that, there are also closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras along the corridors and administration block. According to an impeccable source within the university, the people who carried out the arson attack targeted the storage room and photocopying room of the university, where examination papers are usually printed and kept. He said the incident took place at around 4am and the fire was seen by security guards who were patrolling the campus.  

Guards

The source said when the security guards saw the fire, it seemed like the arsonists were long gone, as the security personnel did not see them. He said since there were a lot of papers in the storage and photocopying room, it was easy for the fire to spread, such that it damaged printers, photocopiers, computers, a lot of papers and it also affected some offices which are within the administration block, which houses the office of the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA). “It is suspected that the arsonists used some of the windows of the building to set it alight. This is because the main door to the building was properly locked,” the source said. UNESWA Registrar Dr Salebona Simelane confirmed the incident. He said he was woken up by a phone call at around 4am, which reported that the administration block in question was on fire. He said personnel from the Eswatini National Fire and Emergency Services (ENFES) and police were called and they responded promptly to the call.

Response

He said they believe that if it were not for the prompt response by the firefighters the damage could have been worse, taking into consideration that there were a lot of papers in those rooms. Thereafter, he said in as much as the affected areas were where they print examination papers, those which were supposed to be taken to the examination centres, were safe from the fire. “However, I cannot comment further on this because of security reasons,” the registrar said. Thereafter, he said they did not know the people who torched the building, but they were well aware that there was a group of students who were against the writing of the examination. In fact, he said the administration had been in back-to-back meetings with the students’ representative council (SRC) over the matter as the scholars in question wanted the university to use their continuous assessment (CA) to grade them, instead of sitting for an examination. He emphasised that examination papers were safe. As such, he said the examinations continued as planned yesterday as those who were supposed to sit for the morning and afternoon examination papers did so. In fact, this reporter also monitored the situation at the university yesterday morning and saw students going to the various examination centres to write.

Security

However, the registrar asked not to go into further details about the matter for security reasons. He added that the matter was already in the hands of the police and he did not want to find himself speaking about things that could end up jeopardising the police investigation. He said they were still assessing the damages. Meanwhile, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati also confirmed the incident. She said the police were investigating the matter, but they did not have the value of the damages at the time of compiling this report.

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