Pit Bull Security employee insults colleagues with disabilities, convicted
MBABANE – A Pit Bull Security Company employee is said to have insulted colleagues with disabilities.
The 35-year-old Sabelo Shabangu of Msunduza was charged for insulting Thembela Malinga (52) and Banele Zwane (26), by calling them names.
The accused person is alleged to have first raised concerns over the company’s decision to hire two persons with disabilities and said it in a derogatory manner.
During his appearance before Mbabane Eswatini National Court President Chief Mgebiseni Dlamini, the accused person denied all the allegations levelled against him.
Shabangu further denied telling them that they would do nothing to him. The incident is said to have occurred on January 30, 2024, at L.M Building, in Mbabane. The court clerk paraded two witnesses. Malinga, one of the complainants, told the court that the accused person came to him in an angry mood on the day in question.
He said they were waiting to board a car to work, as it was after 5pm.
Malinga said Shabangu asked him to name the person who had spread wrong information about him.
“While I was still trying to understand what he was saying, the accused person started insulting me and also said negative words about my disability.
‘‘This never sat well with me. He said I was not going to do anything to him in any way. He did that three times,” Malinga said.
The complainant reported the matter to his boss before proceeding to the police. Also, Zwane narrated a similar incident to that of Malinga. He said he felt humiliated after being called a person with a disability.
“It is painful to be called a person with a disability,” he said.
The accused person insisted in court that he did not insult the duo.
He was found guilty and on each count, sentenced to six months in prison or a fine of E500.