Someone is killing my horses - owner
MBABANE – The man who sells each horse for E70 000 says two of his horses were allegedly killed by a certain person.
Jeremiah Shabangu of the Mabeleni area, which is between Dlangeni and Maphalaleni, said his love for horses has turned into a nightmare.
He also claims that three more horses have been attacked.
Jeremiah said he had to burry two horses in October, after they died from injuries.
He said that in the space of four months, he had suffered a big loss. He also said he fears that he might lose more horses, which were his livelihood. Shabangu said he found the third horse limping about three weeks ago.
When he inspected the limping horse, Jeremiah said, he discovered that it had also sustained injuries that might have either killed or injured the other horses.
Deliberate
Jeremiah said this was deliberate. He said one resident was behind these horse attacks.
So serious are these accusations that Jeremiah recently obtained a court order against the resident, whereby, he was interdicted from making threats and assault.
The court order was obtained at the Mbabane Magistrates Court, after a peace agreement.
Jeremiah was the applicant in the matter, whereas the resident whom he reported, was the respondent.
The court order was issued by Magistrate Sifiso Vilakati on February 7.
The respondent was ordered ‘interdicted and restrained from assaulting, threatening, or conducting himself in a violent manner towards the applicant’.
However, the court order also compelled Jeremiah to keep the peace.
Shabangu, in turn, was ordered to ‘remove the fence he has erected on a certain farm at Mabeleni, Hhohho District, but the fence should be on his property’.
Magistrate Vilakati also ordered both parties to keep and maintain peace, with each other and to refrain from conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.
Ordered
In the order, the police are ordered to serve the order and further assist in its execution should the need arise.
Jeremiah said he suspected a certain resident because of many reasons which could not be revealed until they were repeated in court.
The place of dispute is said to fall under Maphalaleni Inkhundla. But this is in dispute, as it is said that the area falls under farm number 1210 and that the farm is at Dlangeni.
Jeremiah said that, as a result, he has been declared a farm dweller, which he disputes. He said the area where he stays is not farm 1210, as it is said to be.
He said the bickering started a few years ago when the resident came and settled metres away from Jeremiah’s yard.
Jeremiah said he had been vocal about his dispute and challenged why he was allocated land in his yard.
He said this led to him receiving threats from him.
He also disputes that the place is under Dlangeni Umphakatsi but said he is under Maphalaleni Umphakatsi.
Jeremiah said traces of the land went back to the reign of King Sobhuza I (Somhlolo).
He said that during the King’s reign, the generations of one Masimba Shabangu, who was made Lidvuna, came to claim the land as such.
He said that despite the fact that Lidvuna is not the subject of a chief, he prefers paying allegiance to Maphalaleni of Chief Prince Mashila.
Infuriated
Jeremiah said such might have infuriated the resident.
When the resident was approached about these allegations, he opened up and said he was aware of them.
In his right to reply, he said he was surprised to be hauled in court by Jeremiah.
In fact, he said he was shocked by this, given that he and Shabangu interacted often.
The man said the two of them even called each other brothersin-law. His name is withheld because Jeremiah did not mention any person in court who killed his horses. However, elders in the area confirmed that his horses were killed by an unknown person.
Actually, he said he did not know that Shabangu ran to the court and only received a phone call from the court advising him to respond to the allegations.
The man said that when he went to court, he maintained his surprise.
He said he had nothing to do with hurting Shabangu’s horses. He said he had never touched Shabangu’s horses.
In his defence, he was exonerated by two key people in the area.
These are Agrippa Gama, an indvuna of the area, and Dan Solomon Shabangu, who is an elder of the area (umsumpe).
Both men said they have heard at least one incident of Shabangu’s horses being killed.
However, both said they recalled that this incident did not happen last year, but in 2022.
Attacked
They said they did not know who attacked the horse.
Dan Shabangu, who is the elder brother of Jeremiah, said his brother reported the issue to him, and he even assisted in burying the horse.
Dan also said no one was found responsible for the death of the horse and that the matter was never reported to the police. He also said he suspected others in the community who might have had grievances about trespassing horses.
When asked how he takes care of his horses, Jeremiah said he leaves them to roam inside the area declared a farm.
Nevertheless, the man who was accused by Jeremiah said he expected Jeremiah to come clean in the court of Magistrate
Vilakati but did not.
He said Jeremiah’s accusations were broad, including his claims of ownership of the land, which is said to be a farm, and that he had attacked his horses.
He said he did not regard Jeremiah as being in a normal mental state.
He insisted that he would never attack his horses and that he was shocked to be fingered as the attacker.
He also said he did not even know whether someone actually did it after Jeremiah said there was the possibility that his horses trapped themselves in the fence when they attempted to trespass.
He said anything that could be taken as a threat was something he said in passing.
Trespassing
He said he only verbally told Shabangu that he would have to see how he could resolve the issue of the horses trespassing into his fields.
This, he said, was said when Jeremiah had been given a report of trespassing horses into his field, but he appeared unremorseful when told about it.
“He said I went to assault him. He is an elder. I would never disrespect him. But he lied to the court,” he said.
He said the area they live in with Jeremiah is a farm, but he bought a portion of almost two hectares from the farm owners known as Swazi Dale Investments (Pty) Ltd.
The man went on and said that after Jeremiah failed to make peace with him, he fixed the opening in the fence where the horses used to trespass.
The resident also said that now Jeremiah had no reason to think he could hurt or kill his horses because the opening was fixed.
He said even after the court appearance, they talked about keeping the peace among themselves.
He also said there was an incident last year, whereby, an unknown person stabbed one of the horses to death.
“Now he says that he knows that I did not do it but that the horses inserted their hooves on the fence,” he said.
He said Jeremiah was fighting numerous battles, including the dispute over borders.