Mayor accused of petrol-bomb incitement
MBABANE - Mbabane Mayor Zephaniah Nkambule is alleged to be inciting residents of Mahwalala to petrol-bomb all structures under the ACM.
Africa Continent Mission (ACM) is a voluntary association which owns church buildings, schools and clinics in various parts of the country, including Saim Christian High School situated at Mahwalala, Mbabane.
Nkambule has been taken to court in his capacity as a resident of Mahwalala.
ACM filed an urgent application at the High Court where it is seeking an order interdicting Nkambule and Thandi Mkhonta, their agents or anyone acting on their instruction, from threatening or bombing in whatever format, infrastructure that had been constructed with the involvement of the mission, in particular Saim Christian High School and Eswatini Medical Christian University.
The applicant also wants the court to restrain Nkambule and Mkhonta from calling/ attending any parents’ meeting at Saim Christian High School. It is further the mission’s plea to the court that it should issue an order interdicting the duo from entering the premises of Saim Christian High School.
Mayhem
In motivating the application, Pastor Chong Yang Kim, who is Grantee of schools under the ACM alleged that the respondents were causing mayhem in the school.
These are allegations whose veracity is still to be tested in court.
According to Kim, the applicant was the one who built every structure that was found within the parameters of the school. Government, according to the pastor, was to provide teachers and manage the school as a mission school.
He told the court that when the school became operational, certain political figures within Mahwalala area started a campaign of trying to change the school to either a community school or a private one. “The school has over the years become a rallying point for scoring political points by people who are aspiring to be Members of Parliament or those who desire to be elected as ward councilors,” submitted Kim.
The pastor narrated that this year, Nkambule and Mkhonta were allegedly leading a call for changing the school from a mission school to a private or community school. He averred that what Nkambule and Mkhonta were not telling the parents was that, there was an existing agreement between the applicant and the National Housing Board. Kim claimed that the agreement was a 99-year lease whereat the National Housing Board leased the land to the applicant for the purpose of building the school.
He submitted that in his capacity as the grantee and after numerous consultations with the Head teacher of the school, Stanley Mdluli, it became necessary to engage his (Mdluli) employer, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC). He alleged that there were several engagements between ACM, Mdluli and the TSC.
Kim said the TSC eventually reached a decision to transfer Mdluli and he was then served with a letter of same. Mdluli, according to Kim, challenged the transfer at the Industrial Court.
The pastor submitted that the year 2020 was spent with the case pending before the Industrial Court and eventually Judge Manene Thwala handed down a decision where the finding was that, the TSC followed proper procedure when making the transfer.
He said ACM then requested the TSC to facilitate Mdluli’s movement from Saim Christian High to his new school and the introduction of the new head teacher to the school.
Kim alleged that the TSC wrote a letter and instructed Mdluli to vacate Saim High School and to go to the new school by September 16, 2021.
“On September 15, 2021, Mdluli called a parents’ meeting. In attendance were Nkambule and Mkhonta and this was confirmed by a representative of the grantee, Bongani Mabuza,” he submitted.
Meeting
Kim submitted that he was informed by Mabuza that in the meeting, Mdluli told the parents that he was being forced out of the school by the mission yet he liked the school.
Mdluli, according to Kim, also allegedly motivated the parents to consider putting pressure on the Ministry of Education and Training to change the school from being a mission school to either a private school or community school.
The pastor alleged that he was further informed by Mabuza that Nkambule stood up and addressed the parents during the meeting. He alleged that Nkambule encouraged the parents to consider petrol-bombing structures of the school and all other buildings that belonged to ACM. He alleged that Mkhonta also addressed the parents and supported Nkambule’s view.
“The night leading to Thursday September 16, 2021; an attempt to petrol-bomb a structure at the Eswatini Medical Christian University was made. The petrol bomb did not cause damage because the structure that was targeted is made of steel walls,” he argued.
This, according to Kim, was what necessitated the present application.
The matter is still pending in court and appearing for ACM is Human Rights Lawyer Sipho Gumedze.