‘DUBAIS’ BUSINESSPEOPLE MOVE CARS TO SAFETY

MATSAPHA – Import car dealership proprietors are living in fear as some of their showrooms were set alight during the demonstrations that turned violent last week.

A number of import dealerships within the Manzini Region had their vehicles gutted by fire as the protests intensified on Monday and Tuesday last week. One of the dealerships that were affected was Moon Motors, located just beneath Matsapha Police Station. It was gathered that the dealership had six vehicles torched. The vehicles that were set alight were two trucks, two Toyota Vitz sedans, Mazda Demio sedan and a Volkswagen (VW) Polo 6. A visit to the import car dealership unravelled that the proprietors had seemingly moved most of their vehicles following the protests.

Damage

The proprietor of Moon Motors, Hamza Zaka, said they were still to quantify the damage.  He said in light of the vandalism and torching of some of their property, they had moved some of their cars to a place of safety. It was a similar case at Gondal Motors, wherein the latest model of a Honda Fit sedan was set alight. Most vehicles were said to have been moved to a place of safety in fear that worse could happen. Mudassal Iqbal from Gondal Motors said they suffered damages in excess of E2.5 million. He said this was because the vandals did not only burn one car but also torched their offices which had spare parts, bluebooks and other accessories. In addition to that, he said the people behind the mayhem also vandalised 20 vehicles. He said they were stripped off their interior.

Worth noting is that this publication had last Friday reported that about 140 vehicles were set alight during the protests. At Logoba Motor Centre Swaziland 44 cars were burnt while 10 were unaccounted for. The loss was said to be in excess of E3.5 million as spares and other material was gutted by the fire. Also, HB Motors at Sobhuza, just before the Nazarene traffic lights, had 92 cars torched with the loss estimated at over E10 million. One of the businessmen, Ahmad Mohammed, said they were now living in fear as they were seemingly a target in the protests. He said a number of the dealership proprietors had to move their vehicles to places of safety in fear that there could be more protests that would result in the burning of their business establishments.

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Mohammed said the sad part was that it was hard to pinpoint the people responsible in order to seek damages. He said to some it could have been just a protest but to them, it was livelihood and an investment that went up in flames. “Some of my brothers are already thinking of leaving the country as this is scary and has instilled uncertainty on what will happen next,” he said. The businessman said a majority of them had sought places of refuge elsewhere other than their normal residences, following the mayhem as they were not certain if the attacks were directed at them or they were just random. The businessman said there were also assumptions by the public that following these incidents, the import vehicles were being disposed at cheaper prices.

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