TAXIMAN BURNT TO DEATH, 2 ARRESTED

MANZINI – A taxi man, who was last seen being hired by a young man on Saturday at Mliba, was found burnt inside his car and two teenagers have been arrested so far.

The man is believed to have died from the burn wounds. According to an impeccable source, the taximan, whose identity has been deliberately withheld as this publication could not get a comment from his next of kin, who was operating at Mliba Village, was allegedly hired by a young man on Saturday afternoon while at his workstation. The source claimed that along the way, which was to an unknown destination, the client allegedly told the deceased to pick up two of his friends. When the said friends boarded the car, suspected to be a Toyota RunX, the taximan realised that he knew one of them.

In fact, the source claimed that the taximan discovered that one of the people he had just picked up with his car was his ‘enemy’ whom he had recently taken to court over a matter which they did not see eye-to-eye on. Thereafter, according to the source, there was a quarrel in the car and in the process, the taximan was allegedly stabbed. He alleged that they then bundled him into the boot of the car and drove away with him. When they reached the forests at Njojane, under Hlane Constituency in the Lubombo Region, the trio allegedly took him out of the boot and placed him on the driver’s seat. The source alleged that they then shot him several times, before they set him alight. The source said the shocking discovery was made by Njojane community members on Monday morning and they called the police, who responded promptly to the call. He said the man was found burnt to death, almost unrecognisable inside the car, which was also partly burnt by the fire. “In fact, they found his body on the driver’s seat,” the source said. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed that a man was found burnt to death inside a car at Njojane on Monday morning. She said the police had arrested two teenagers, aged 17 and 19. She said one man was still at large.

Missing

It is worth noting that in April 2020, a taximan of Luve, who had been missing for 10 days, was also found dead. The taxi operator of Luve went missing along with his car, a silver grey Honda Fit, on Sunday April 26, 2020.  The police finally made a breakthrough when they found his car at Gege in the Shiselweni Region 10 days later and it was driven by a man from Mbelebeleni, near Luve in the Manzini Region. According to a family member, the information they got from the police was that the man who was found driving the car was taken in for questioning. Thereafter, the police continued with their investigation, it led them to Ngogola, Mafutseni where they found the taximan’s body and it was starting to decompose. 

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