FAMILY LOOKING FOR BODY OF MAN SHOT IN PROTESTS

MBABANE – “We want him home.”

These words were uttered by a family in Matsapha, Mbikwakhe, which needs assistance in locating their loved one’s corpse. The family is looking for one of their own, Sipho ‘Magolide’ Maziya. Maziya was allegedly shot by police on June 29, 2021 during the mayhem that happened in Matsapha, in particular at Eswatini Beverages. According to a family member, Maziya was involved in the unrest that resulted in the looting, vandalism and burning of some properties, including part of Eswatini Beverages.
Police and soldiers were deployed to restore law and order and in the skirmish, some people were allegedly shot and others were allegedly injured by the protestors.

Friend

After he was allegedly shot, his body was not found at the scene where a friend had confirmed he was shot at. “We received a phone call from one of his friends who was with him on the day of the incident and he told us that he had been shot. He also told us that he, unfortunately, seemed to have died on the spot,” said the family member. With the unrest and looting that was ongoing at the time, the family could not immediately go to the scene where the shooting was said to have taken place. “When we received the news, it was already after midnight and it was chaos all over and we could not go out at that time,” said the family member. The family, however, went the following day to the scene with the hopes of finding his body but they did not. “We only found and recognised his shoes and the hoodie jacket he had left home wearing.  There was only a lot of dried blood but the body was not there,” said a family member. In addition to the sentiments shared by the family, a friend to the deceased said they were deeply bothered by the missing corpse. “We have been posting his picture on social media, passing our condolences to the family yet we have not seen the body,” said the friend. The friend said all they wanted at this point was for the body to be located so that he could be laid to rest.

Government

The issue of the missing corpse comes after government announced and acknowledged that 27 people had lost their lives during the unrest in the country, which culminated in looting, vandalism and burning of property. This publication has so far identified 26 people whose deaths were confirmed largely by their families and they are alleged to have been shot by members of the security forces. Meanwhile, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said: “A list of the people we lost during the unrest was kept and it will be rightfully released.”

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