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MOB HACKS, BURNS MAN (21) TO DEATH

26/06/2023 16:46:00 Stanley Khumalo

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MANZINI – A 21-year-old man was reportedly hacked with a bush knife, stabbed all over the body and burnt on Saturday morning.

The murder was committed at Ntabamhloshana, which is a semi-urban community located about 20 kilometers, south-east from Manzini. According to sources, Bonkhe Lushaba was assaulted by people after they found him seated at one of the shopping complexes on Saturday morning. The sources were uncertain of the number of people who were involved in the assault of Lushaba However, this publication gathered that Calisile Mabuza, who is an aunt to Lushaba, discovered her nephew lying behind a shopping complex at Ntabamhloshana at about 7:15am on Saturday.

Homestead

Mabuza, who was found with other family members, said on Saturday morning she prepared to go to the hammer mill, which is about two kilometres from the homestead. Upon arrival there, she said one of the people from the area approached her and reported that Lushaba had been injured. With tears welling in her eyes, Mabuza said she approached the scene which is about 30 metres from the hammer mill and found her nephew half-clothed with stab wounds all over the body.She said: “When they told me that Bonkhe was injured, I thought that it was something minor and did not suspect I’d find him in such a bad state.”

Mabuza said she found Lushaba resting his head on a sweater he had been wearing when he left home on Friday. The aunt said his neck and face were scalded; but she was not certain what had been used to burn him. Mabuza had suspicion that acid could have been used as a tyre or any other form of fire would have had remnants. She said upon arrival at the scene, Lushaba was still breathing but it was seemingly demanding for him. She suspected that this was because Lushaba had been half naked in the cold for almost five hours while he had also bled profusely.

Inspection

Mabuza said the community members who had found Lushaba had tried to move him from the wall where he had been left leaning onto a spot where there were rays of the sun. Upon inspection of her nephew, Mabuza said she saw that Lushaba had serious head injuries, supposedly inflicted through being hacked. Also, she said the deceased had stab wounds all over the body, including in the soles of his feet. The aunt said the community members informed her that they had contacted the Mafutseni Police Station to report the gory discovery and further requested that Lushaba be transported to hospital. However, as they waited and looked at the state the deceased was in at the time, a car was organised and used to transport him to hospital. Nevertheless, this effort fell through as the vehicle developed mechanical challenges within two kilometres from the shopping complexes of Ntabamhloshana. As they waited for the police, Mabuza said when she checked on her nephew, she discovered that he was no longer breathing.

Injuries

At about 10 minutes later, she said the police arrived and they took Lushaba to the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital, where he was certified dead. “The doctor said the head injuries were severe and that he had bled profusely,” Mabuza said. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the murder. She said: “Two males aged 41 and 38 have been arrested and charged with murder whereby on Saturday, at 9am, a 21-year-old man of Ntabamhloshana was assaulted and burnt.” It is worth noting that the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) in its Annual Report for 2022/23 stated that murder cases hiked by 86.3 per cent as it increased to 231 recorded cases against 124 in the previous reporting period.

Breakthroughs

In dealing with the crime of murder, police reported that they had made breakthroughs as a total of 238 suspects were arrested for the various murders committed. The police reported that most murder cases emanated from, among other things, family disputes, abuse of alcohol, dagga wars, mob justice as well as forced ingestion of poisonous substances. They said a multi-faceted approach was necessary to curb this scourge of crime. Recently, this publication reported that a hit man shot a pensioner aged 62 and her 39-year-old son last month. The pair was shot and killed while within their homestead at Lundzi. Also, this publication reported that an elderly man was brutally murdered at his homestead just after returning to his wife from an errand in the capital city. The senior citizen, aged 75, was murdered at Manzana in Mliba under Madlangampisi. According to sources, the pensioner had just returned from Mbabane where he had been accompanied by a community member to register for a new dip tank.