HARDLY ANY ACTIVITY IN CAPITAL CITY

MBABANE – Unusual!

Despite that it is the first week after month end, there is almost no activity in the city as a majority of businesses remain closed. A visit by this reporter to some of the busiest malls including Corporate Place, Swazi Plaza, The New Mall and Gwamile Street, established that these places among others were very quiet with minimum movement. The silence of the city comes after what started off as peaceful protests but were later hijacked by looters and vandals who caused havoc in various businesses. Of note is that some shops had removed their stock from the shelves; these include big retailers like Identity.

Opposite

At the Swazi Plaza, activity was noticed at Shoprite, Pep Stores, and Clicks. Most of the banks had also closed except for FNB branch opposite Chumana which was operational and the Nedbank branch along Gwamile Street. Some of the businesspeople who were interviewed mentioned that they feared that their property would be looted, hence they opted to remove stock from the shelves, adding that they were monitoring the situation closely. They stated that they were disappointed by the security forces as their presence was not visible. “We cannot risk opening shops as safety of the property is not guaranteed,” they said. Meanwhile, some frustrated customers mentioned that the situation was not good at all. They stated that it was month-end and they wanted to buy items in the various shops but were restricted as they were closed. “It is only the food retailers that are operational, something that limits us,” said the customers.

In an interview with some businesspeople who had opened shop, they stated that there was no business, adding that despite that they were afraid following last week’s mayhem, there was nothing they could do as they needed to put food on the table.
Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nathi Dlamini said it was not surprising that most shops had closed, while others had removed their stock. Dlamini said businesspeople and traders were terrified. “We are all trying to avoid danger, which is why the town looks like this.” Dlamini said shops had been looted and burnt and no one came to their rescue, adding that until such time that they felt safe that security had been beefed up and it was visible for all to see, they would approach the reopening of businesses with caution.

Scared

The CEO stated that businesspeople were running scared, especially because when their shops were attacked, no one came to their rescue. Dlamini said it was a sad thing that there would be job losses as a result of the fear by most businesspeople. He said it was for this reason that Business Eswatini was calling for a dialogue because when parties were talking, the guns outside were quiet.

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