3rd inkhundla burnt in 5 days
MANZINI – Ekukhanyeni Constituency Centre has become the third inkhundla to be petrolbombed in the past five days.
The constituency centre, which services seven chiefdoms, was petrol-bombed on Tuesday night by unknown arsonists. This act follows shortly after other arson attacks that have been targeting government structures.
This is because on Saturday, Sithobelweni Constituency Centre was petrol-bombed by unknown people, destroying documents and office material. Subsequent to this, on Tuesday night, arsonists torched Dvokodweni Constituency Centre, causing damage to the office of the constituency headman, resulting in a computer, chair, table and documents being burnt.
The same modus operandi seemingly was implemented at Ekukhanyeni Constituency Centre as the unknown arsonists targeted the office of the constituency headman and that of the secretary.
According to the Constituency Headman, Remember Matsenjwa, the estimated damage was about E45 000. This, he said, included a heavy duty printer, laminating machine, two 5 000-litre water tanks and critical documents of ongoing projects.
Alcohol
Found inside the inkhundla centre were bottles used for the packaging of alcohol. It was suspected the bottles were used to make the petrol bombs. The bottles that smelled of petroleum were said to have also been found outside the constituency centre.
Furthermore, a community member said relayed that the arsonists broke a window to throw the petrol bombs inside the constituency centre. He said the fire also damaged the walls and ceiling as it was filled with soot. Like Matsenjwa, the community member suspected the arson attack was linked to what had been happening in other constituency centres. “We cannot say we suspect a particular individual as we believe it is part of what’s happening countrywide.”
The resident said operations were suspended at the constituency centre for now as the building was not fit for human occupation.
On the other hand, Secretary of the constituency, Zanele Dlamini, said the damage caused by the fire in her office had resulted in some birth certificates of the constituents being damaged. She said they would request the Ministry of Home Affairs to assist in reproducing them while those who had just applied would have to restart the process. Following the arson attack, it was gathered that police had visited the constituency centre on the night of the fire and yesterday morning as part of their investigations.
Police
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said she was not aware of the incident. Worth noting is that on Wednesday, the National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police, William Dlamini, said police were working tirelessly, due to the current political unrest which had seen government buildings being burnt by emaSwati.
He said as a result, the police were in the process of finding and putting behind bars the culprits behind the damage to the national property. The NATCOM appealed to society to desist from the despicable tendency and practice of burning and vandalising government structures including tinkhundla centres and schools.
He said such acts of subversion were condemned in the strongest possible terms.
Recently, the police also announced that they were offering a cash reward to anyone with information that would lead to the arrest and subsequent prosecution of the people behind the burning of structures in the country.
The police chief said the acts of sabotage were targeted at various government structures, key community social services facilities, such as schools, tinkhundla centres and imiphakatsi.