ARMY, COPS DEPLOYED AT LOMAHASHA

SITEKI – Members of the army and police officers have been deployed at Lomahasha Police Station and the community at large following threats by some youth of the area to burn the cop shop.

According to information shared by a senior police officer yesterday, Lomahasha Police Station Commander Philip Tsabedze requested reinforcement from Simunye Police Station to monitor the situation on Sunday night. This was after close to 100 youth members marched to the police station and later burnt tyres, blocking traffic along the road to the Lomahasha Border Gate. Even though not stating the number of the deployed police officers, citing security reasons, the police officer stated that the reinforcement had been necessitated by the volatile situation in the small town. The Lomahasha youth has been angered by the shooting of two residents in Sifiso ‘Mpostoli’ Masilela and Mxolisi ‘Sigubhu’ Nyoni, allegedly by an off-duty police officer, Nkosinathi ‘Twenty’ Dlamini, on Saturday night.

Murder

The murder of the two happened at the home of the late Peter’s Transport owner, Peter Mashaba, during a funeral of a family member, Joshua. “We have to deploy more police to monitor the situation during the day and night as the youth are still angry. The burning of tyres and blocking of the road was significant enough to show that they can do worse things than what they did on Sunday. We will monitor the situation and ensure that it calms down,” said the police officer. A resident, who asked not to be indentified in fear of victimisation by the police, also confirmed that the youth had planned to torch the police station. “They are still angry because they believe more people will be killed in this manner by the police. They want to burn down the police station so that government takes their grievances seriously, considering that there have been a number of similar incidents where people were killed by the police and justice was not served. After the burning of the tyres, soldiers and police camped at the Lomahasha Service Centre and at the police station to monitor the situation,” said the resident.

Angry

Siboniso Mkhabela, a resident of the area, also confirmed that the youth were still angry and wanted to burn the police station.“The youth want to burn the police station and I tried to stop them even yesterday. I sat them down, but after I had left, they continued to burn tyres. They are angry and the threat is still lingering in their minds as they are not happy with what happened to the two residents. They want justice and I believe government has to put a stop to the killing of innocent souls,” he said.
A brother to one of the deceased, Bongani Nyoni, confirmed having been informed about the matter; however, he indicated that the family was still busy with preparations for the burial of their loved one.

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