KING’S OFFICE LABELS GARDEE’S ALLEGATION WEIRD WITCH-HUNT

MBABANE – Director of Communications at the King’s Office Percy Simelane has described the accusations made by South African politician Godrich Gardee as weird witch-hunt.

Gardee is a South African politician who is the former Secretary General of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). On Monday, Gardee took to his Twitter page to accuse the country’s authorities of orchestrating the kidnapping, raping and brutal murder of his daughter, Hillary. Gardee alleged that this was propmted by the border blockades held by the party back in April, which saw four borders with Eswatini being closed for more than six hours. Some of the allegations cannot be repeated as they cannot be substantiated.

When contacted by this publication yesterday, Simelane, said; “We refuse to grace this weird witch-hunt with a comment save to point out that the murder in question was investigated by the South African Police Service and suspects were charged after intelligence had exhausted leads.” Three men were arrested in May in connection with the murder of Gardee’s daughter and they have been making their appearances in court since then. The suspects who were arrested in connection with this case included one Philemon Lukhele, who is a member of the local proscribed political party, the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). The other two accused persons are Sipho Mkhathswa and Albert Mduduzi Gama.

Justice

When they made their first appearance in court, it was revealed that they were facing six counts which were conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, rape, murder, illegal possession of a firearm and defeating the ends of justice. Government’s Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo shared the same sentiments as Simelane, stating that there was absolutely no need for government to respond to the wild and legally untested allegations made by Gardee. Nxumalo said, however, the fact that this journalist had approached government, there was a need to say something. He said the wild allegations did not deserve to be dignified with a comment.

He stated that the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini had no history of running after people in foreign soil for their respective political views but if there was a need to do so, the law would be the government’s arbiter. Nxumalo said Gardee was overpricing his political value. He added that border blockages started as far as the 1990s by COSATU and none of those who participated were ever threatened, let alone their families neutralised. He said the case of Gardee’s daughter’s death was in the courts of that country (South Africa) and some suspects had been apprehended and appeared in court. “So far, there’s absolutely nothing that suggests involvement of foreign agencies in the murder of his daughter. He claims he was targeted for having staged a 6-hour border blockade with only 60 people,” said Nxumalo.

The government spokesperson said it sufficed to conclude that Gardee must not attempt to export the unbridled criminal environment of his country to other countries in the region.
Hillary Gardee, a 28-year-old IT graduate, was abducted from the Nelspruit Plaza Spar at around 5pm on Friday, April 29, 2022. Passers-by found her lifeless body several days later at the edge of a forest on a deserted stretch of the Sabie road.

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