ANGRY SCU STUDENTS SET ICT MINISTER’S HOUSE ON FIRE

LOMKIRI – Furious SCU students yesterday set Minister Dumisani Ndlangamandla’s luxurious house on fire.

SCU is an acronym for Swaziland Christian University. Ndlangamandla, who is the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), was in Nhlangano when the assailants struck. According to eyewitnesses, Elvovo Dube and Siphamandla Xaba, the students arrived at the minister’s home, which is still under construction, at around 9:30am, armed with three car tyres, matches and what appeared to be a flammable liquid. One student who stays adjacent to the minister’s house was said to have showed the about 100 students  the politician’s home. The students were singing political songs while moving towards the house. As this happened, Xaba, Dube and two of their colleagues, were working outside the house. What happened next left them traumatised.

The students entered the home in song, opened the aluminium sliding door and tried to light a fire. After noticing that the fire did not ignite, the students went back to reignite the fire and poured the flammable liquid to ensure that it did not go off. Xaba and Dube’s attempts to reason with the students proved futile as all hell broke loose. The students used stones and anything they could lay their hands on to further vandalise Ndlangamandla’s house, leaving it with shattered windows and a shattered glass door. The garage door was also not spared as the students used an axe they took from the house to vandalise it. The shocked Xaba narrated that they took to their heels after the students started throwing stones at them. He narrated that while some pelted the house with stones, others were standing in the middle of the road singing.

A car that was driving past the minister’s house was almost set on fire, as students were stopped by others in a bid to set it alight. A tyre had already been put on top of the car bonnet and all that was left was setting it on fire.
As the flames got bigger, the students are said to have proceeded to block the road. They lit another tyre in the middle of the road by the Hilltop traffic circle and further placed rocks, blocking the road to SCU. As they did that, the four workers who stay at the minister’s home swiftly connected a pipe to a tap and put out the fire that had already reached the roof. “Had we waited a moment longer, the whole house would have caught fire,” Xaba said.
When this reporter arrived at the scene, two tyres were found in the sitting room but they were not lit. Right outside the glass door were remains of another car tyre. The garage door had several slashes which resulted from it being hacked with the axe taken from the minister’s house.

There was smog in and outside the house and windows were smashed. The incident left Xaba and Dube terrified as they never thought the students would ever do such a thing. They reported the matter to the police, who promptly attended to the incident. Found at the scene was the dejected minister’s wife, Phindile Ndlangamandla, who had a tough time putting her emotions to words. When students burnt the house, she was at work. She stated that after she saw the house she felt shuttered and added that they were looking forward to moving in early next year. She failed to understand why the students resorted to vandalising their house and added that the construction of the house started in March. Minister Ndlangamandla could not state the value of his house or how much damage was caused. He said he had not done an assessment of the damages but stated that it was huge as the students vandalised expensive items. When asked if he would lay any charges against those responsible, he said the matter involved criminal elements and such had to be dealt with by the law.

“We hope the police will do their work as they are currently investigating the matter,” the minister said. The minister further stated that the law had to take its course with regard to those responsible, and added that it should be a lesson to everyone that things did not end with people committing crimes. Recently, Swaziland College of Technology (SCOT) students vandalised and looted food from the institution’s kitchen during a strike, where they were demanding that the administration conducts Student Representative Council (SRC) elections among other issues. This resulted in the college shutting down for about two weeks and three students being arrested and charged in connection with the crimes.
In September, students from the University of Swaziland (UNISWA), Luyengo Campus, overturned a police vehicle during a strike where they were demanding their allowances. They further vandalised university property and this led to the UNISWA Senate shutting down the institution for about two weeks.

Last month, students from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) hit a police vehicle with open hands, while others attempted to overturn it during a strike over allowances.
The vehicle was attempting to enter the institution’s gate to deliver food for officers who were on duty.

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