LiSwati truck driver shot dead in SA
MANZINI – A liSwati truck driver has been shot dead amid the ongoing xenophobic unrest in South Africa.
According to a source close to the matter, the incident took place in Richard’s Bay, on Saturday at around midnight and the truck driver, Sithembiso Ntshingila (41) of Hlatikhulu in the Shiselweni Region, who was employed by Parsons Logistics Services, was said to have been shot at three times.
The source said this happened at a time when some South African citizens, including truck drivers, who are believed to be members of the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF), had revived the xenophobic attacks on foreign truck drivers, who are working in the neighbouring country.
Attacks
The source said the attacks on foreign truck drivers had affected two emaSwati in a week as prior to this shooting incident on Saturday night, another liSwati truck driver was heavily assaulted by South African citizens with sjamboks. He said the truck driver was also given a warning to go back to his country - Eswatini.
Regarding the shooting incident, the source alleged that the truck driver had parked his vehicle in queue to deliver his load. He said since it was at night, some of the truck drivers were asleep.
He alleged that the shooter knocked on the driver’s door and when he opened it (door) to attend to the person who was knocking, the killer opened fire and shot him near the armpit.
Thereafter, he alleged that the driver jumped over to the passenger seat, opened the door and jumped out of the truck, supposedly with the aim of running away from shooter. However, the source alleged that immediately when he touched the ground, another shot was fired at him. The source said it was not clear if the person who fired the second shot was the same one who knocked on the driver’s door or there were two shooters. He said after being shot for the second time, the driver tried to hide under the truck, but in the process he was shot again and he died on the spot.
A sister to the deceased confirmed the matter. She said Ntshingila had worked for Parsons Logistics Services for about three years and was survived by four children.
Parsons Logistics Services Manager Jaco Parsons, confirmed the matter. He said they were currently in talks at ministerial level about the incident. He said it took place at Richards Bay.
“Unfortunately, this is all I can share with anyone at the moment as the Crime Intelligence Unit has an ongoing investigation about the incidents,” the manager said.
Meanwhile, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and International Cooperation, Sikhumbuzo Bhembe said the ministry had not received any report about the matter from its mission in South Africa. However, he said they would do their investigations.
When he was asked on what the ministry was doing to address safety concerns of emaSwati working in South Africa, in particular truck drivers, he said government took a decision that this issue would be handled by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
On the other hand, efforts of getting a comment from theActing Communications Officer in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Nosimilo Vilakati proved futile as a questionnaire that was sent to her yesterday afternoon at around 2:50pm, by the time of compiling this report, she had not responded to it. One of the questions was; are there means being done to address the safety issues of emaSwati who are working in South Africa, especially truck drivers.
Foreigners
It is worth noting that when carrying out xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals, especially truck drivers, they argue that most of them were illegal immigrants and that in SouthAfrica, they had more than enough South African truck drivers who were well qualified, but they were allegedly not given a chance because foreigners were regarded as cheap labour.
In 2020, the Sunday Times reported how the onslaught against companies employing foreign truck drivers had left dozens of people dead or injured and caused E1.2 billion in damages to trucks and cargo.