Man evicts wife and children from

M– Get out of my home!

George Mbatha, a 68-year-old resident of Lomahasha has done the unthinkable when he evicted his own wife, children and grandchildren from his home.

Residents of Lomahasha were shocked and unhappy with the act of Mbatha and they insist it was culturally unknown for a man to evict his children from their home.

The concerned residents said what Mbatha has done will set a wrong precedent in the community and should not be allowed by community leadership.

Confront

They further disclosed to the Eswatini News that their efforts to confront Mbatha and the community leadership were clogged by the police.

“We were informed by the station commander to refrain from our purported mobilisation of the community members because the matter has

The homestead at Lomahasha where the incident happened.

been reported to the police and it was still under the family confines to deal with,” said the concerned resident.

The concerned resident further disclosed that all families have their own challenges but it was outrageous to evict the whole family.

“This is unheard off and should not be encouraged at all at Lomahasha and should not be allowed to start with them,” said the concerned resident.

Aggrieved

The aggrieved Mbatha confirmed to the Eswatini News that he has indeed ordered all his children out of his home.

He said what he had done was for his own safety.

It was further alleged that the reason behind him evicting his children were allegations of witchcraft. Mbatha declined to confirm or deny the allegations pending his appearance to the Bandlancane

Council.

Meanwhile, Sabelo Mbatha one of Mbatha’s children, confirmed their eviction from home by their own father and further shared that some were long ordered to leave home.

Sabelo further disclosed that he was not comfortable talking about the matter as the issue is still pending before the local council for more deliberations.

However, he hinted that some of the issues that have resulted in the eviction cannot be shared to the public.

“Every home has their own dirty linen to protect, but the issue is still a concern because we are failing to address it as a family and the local council has been roped in to mediate as a neutral body,” said Sabelo.

Comfortable

Sabelo as much as he was not comfortable with discussing the issue disclosed that when the matter failed to be contained within the family, their father ended up resorting to report it to the Lomahasha Police Station.

He further disclosed that they have a pending restraining order that gives them up to August 13, 2022.

Sabelo also said they have in possession of a protection order that was before the Acting Magistrate M Nxumalo on June 14, 2022.

The protection order seen by the Eswatini News, which was before the Acting Magistrate Nxumalo on June 14, 2022, reads, “Having heard the applicant and the respondent, a protection order is hereby issued in terms of the SODV Act of 2018, Section 583 ordering and directing that the parties are interdicted and restrained from threatening and/or harassing each other either physically or verbally or emotionally and/or telephonically”.

Compliance

The order further wants compliance from both parties on which to keep and/or maintain peace with each other at all times.

The order further declares that the children are ordered to vacate the two (2) homesteads of the applicant both situated at Lomahasha no later than sixty (60)

M– Lomahasha Indvuna Magejeza Mahlalela confirmed knowledge of the matter of the Mbatha family.

He clearly stated that the matter is not yet known to the council because it has not been debated on its merits.

Mahlalela said for that matter they would not want to comment on an issue that has not been tackled by the Bandlancane Council.

Care

“This is a sensitive matter that needs to be handled with care and caution. If all the allegations are proven to be true it doesn’t mean the council will have to take sides but they need constructive solution” said Mahlalela.

Law

He said matters of the community are not based on what the law says but what can be done to solve the matter at hand.

“This is a retrospective justice between functions to ensure peace is attained between the parties,” he said.

However, Mahlalela maintained that their work is to hear the matter and determine the outcome based on the facts presented.

He said they can only comment on the issue once the matter has been given a ruling.

working days (14th August 2022).

Meanwhile, George Mbatha confirmed the protection order stating it was all in the interest of allowing justice to run its