Rid of gangsterism
that the residents were terrorised by children, some of whom were born in the area. As a result, he stated that gang members were taken to the royal kraal with consent from their parents, some who had tried and failed to reason with them at family level.
“The residents requested me to excuse them when dealing with the culprits. They warned that I should not be part of the exercise so that I can be able to explain to whosoever, in case they were taken to task,” he said. He added that indvuna yenkhundla and bucopho were also excused prior to the resolution. The politicians confirmed having heard about the exercise.
However, Dvuba stated that he heard the boys screaming like goats during the heated punishment.
He stated that the exercise was the last resort, claiming that police were not responding promptly to reported cases. He also stated that the residents were not happy seeing one and the same persons committing offences without being kept in custody. He made an example of a gun-carrying member of the gang, stating that the boy spent a few days in custody and returned to the community, much to the surprise of the residents.
Troublesome
Dvuba also mentioned that they received information that some of the troublesome gangs had just been evicted or chased away from the nearby areas. Ehhini is a neighbour to Mvutjini, Enyonyane, Gelekeceni, Ebuka, Nshakabili, as well as Lobamba. Worth noting is that all the above mentioned areas are not spared from the criminal activities conducted by the terror gang. As a result, Dvuba appealed to the neibhouring communities to guard against accommodating the criminals, who turned to be animals at night or even in broad daylight.
He, therefore, warned residents of
Ehhini against leasing their houses to people without proper vetting to ascertain their background.
“The exercise is ongoing and we have reached a point of forming social media groups for easy communication. We will also urge all residents to furnish the royal kraal with particulars of all their tenants. We no longer want people without references here. We have observed that some people just lease out houses to people without knowing their references. Allowing unknown people to live in your homestead may subject you to interrogation in case the tenants were accused of crime,” he said.
Dvuba stated that punishing the gangsters at the royal kraal was better than punishing them anywhere else. He stated that the punishment was monitored at the royal kraal.
He said this after he was asked about monitoring of the punishment as deaths as a result of mob justice had been experienced in some areas, with the last incident being at Maphungwane in Siteki, where one man died at the hands of a mob, while four were admitted to Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital.
Another death was experienced at Sigangeni, where a man suspected of cattle rustling died after he was forced to ingest a weevil tablet. His colleague was admitted to the Mbabane Government Hospital after an attack.
Many other countries have frowned upon instances of mob justice and equally prefer police to deal with suspects.
However, such incidents continue, especially in extremist villages in Africa, where people are stoned to death should they have gone against a custom of the area.