WARDER STABS COLLEAGUE OVER ELECTRICITY UNITS DISPUTE

MBABANE – At Bhalekane Correctional Centre, some tell it like a tale.

This relates to the issue of an officer from His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) who allegedly stabbed his colleague in the buttocks. Insiders said there was a bloody altercation on Wednesday night at the HMCS residential quarters between roommates, a situation that culminated in one of the warders sustaining injuries. He was bandaged after the incident. Their names would not be mentioned for now as the issue is still being investigated internally and no arrests have been made so far. Sources said the attacker, without warning, approached his neighbour and stabbed him once.  At least two HMCS officers at the quarters witnessed the altercation and intervened, sources said. The survivor confirmed the incident, saying that it happened on Wednesday night around 11pm.  He said there has been a dragging misunderstanding between him and his colleagues about the sharing of the electricity metre units.

made his concerns known

The survivor said he has on numerous times made his concerns known to his roommate that the sharing of the metre seemed to have always been disadvantaging him. He said the alleged attacker stayed with a live-in-girlfriend who was always around cooking. While they shared the electricity metre, he said they found themselves having disagreements about recharging their prepared electricity metre.  He said they agreed to each fork out E100 per month towards the electricity units they purchased. However, it does not last a month, hence the top-up. He also said they did not agree on the amount to be topped up. The survivor said what infuriated his assailant was that these top-ups are caused by his girlfriend, who is always around.
 He also said he thought the alleged attacker might have been infuriated by what his girlfriend resorted to doing. The survivor said he was not sure why his attacker would attack him for what her girlfriend did because it was a good sign that she could see the inconvenience being caused by this arrangement. The survivor said he spent less time at the camp than at home. He said he went home quite often on his off-duty days. The warder said he did not stay around as often as his roommate and his girlfriend did. He also said he did not have many appliances, as he spent most of his time at home where he has TV and fridges, among other appliances that consume electricity.

wiring of the units

The survivor also said the wiring of the units might be faulty, causing the unending running of the bill in the walls. The survivor said he had been receiving medical attention at one of the health facilities. He narrated that he had changed bandages, explaining that he bled profusely after the stabbing. He also said he ran away and did not fight back. He said he considered laying a charge against the HMCS officer. Efforts to get the alleged attacker’s side of the story proved futile. He was called numerous times over the week and phone numbers on both MTN and Eswatini Mobile were unreachable. However, a reliable source said that the survivor’s version was not entirely true, as he was sighted as the instigator rather than the other way around.

The source said the alleged attacker had not been contributing his share of the electricity purchase and an argument ensued within the house they shared. The source said it was at that time that the survivor was stabbed, as in the heat of an argument, the survivor slapped the attacker. In retaliation, the attacker stabbed the survivor, the reliable source said. When contacted about this issue, HMCS Deputy Public Relations Officer (PRO) Sergeant Baphelele Kunene confirmed the incident, citing it as an unfortunate occurrence.

stabbed officer

Kunene said even though the matter was reported to the facility’s administration, the stabbed officer had not yet opened a case with the police, at least according to information available at the moment. Kunene, however, mentioned that the HMCS administration intervened soon after the incident. He said the administration separated the two roommates. He said it was unfortunate that officers would get to the point of engaging in a fight, especially because the Office of the Commissioner General always advocated for harmony and unity among officers.
Kunene said even the commissioner general was aware of how thorny an issue of electricity had become. “It is for this reason that the department was working around the clock to address the issue,” Kunene said. Asked how soon this would be, the deputy PRO said it was within the commissioner general’s wish to address this matter at the earliest possible time. In his tour of HMCS facilities last month, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Prince Simelane, is said to have pleaded for the provision of utilities, including electricity, for the officers.

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