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MANZINI – Following the mayhem over the past week in Manzini, some businesspeople around the CBD are uneasy and unsure about operating their businesses tomorrow.

The violence that took place in the hub characterised by blocking of roads, fires and damage on business property, has resulted in some business owners in Manzini to elect to remain closed tomorrow.

One business owner, whose business is situated at the President Centre, said since the past week’s chaos, he was not at ease and would not operate tomorrow.

“A lot could be lost during the burning of property and I do not want to witness what happened last year when people started vandalising my property. I don’t think we will be operating and I have communicated this with my workers,” the business owner said.

Another business owner shared the same sentiments. He said: “We are definitely left in a cloud of uncertainty following the chaos that erupted last week. We are not even certain about the potential disaster that might happen on Tuesday (. We cannot risk the business and have chosen that we will not operate until we are sure that the situation is calm.”

Meanwhile, some people who were interviewed by this publication expressed that they were still traumatised by the events that led to the burning of the Manzini Bus Rank Police Post on Friday during the public transport workers’ protest.

Concern

“The burning of the police post is a huge cause for concern because this means we do not have protection within the bus rank. As vendors operating at the rank, we feel unsafe without the presence of the police, and so we will just close business,” said Sihle Dlamini.

The vendor went on to say that the absence of the police post would mean opportunists would take advantage and easily commit crimes.

Dlamini added that the happenings were scary and left them in fear.

Another vendor said she would first assess the situation before deciding on closing shop or not.

“I really need money and it would be irresponsible just to close business without determining if the situation is calm or not. I will have to wait and see,” she said.

On another note, a resident of Fairview North said they were concerned about the police turnaround time when matters were reported, especially at night.

The resident claimed that a man was stabbed in one of the bars in the area and the police did not arrive when called.

Instead, he said, they were told to wait until the following morning to report the matter to the police.

Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said they could not advise businesses to close shop or not. Nonetheless, Mnguni assured that the police would be there to ensure that they did their job by protecting people and property, as well as maintaining order, as per their duty.