LISWATI SHOT, KILLED AT BORDERLINE

MBABANE – A 21-year-old man was shot dead allegedly by security officers while attempting to illegally cross into Eswatini through the borderline at Ngwenya yesterday.

This was confirmed by Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni, who said the deceased was a resident of Ngwenya area. She said the information that they had gathered so far was that he was illegally crossing from the South African side into Eswatini early yesterday after 8am. “We are still doing investigations, but the information that we have gathered thus far is that he was shot by security forces at Ngwenya while he was committing the crime,” said Mnguni.

Information

She said according to the information that they had gathered, the deceased was travelling on his own when he attempted to illegally cross through borderline and more information was yet to be clarified. “We are yet to get further details and at the moment we cannot confirm more details regarding his family and how the incident happened,” added the inspector. Mnguni went on to add that such cases were not new even though she could not give clarity on the statistics at the moment. “This is definitely not new to us as such cases sometimes happen,” she said. In a brief interview with the deceased’s father, who preferred that this reporter spoke to the police rather than him, he said he was not in a good position to discuss the matter, but highlighted that he had in previous occasions warned his son about mischievous acts that would get him into trouble.

“Children at times live for now and do things because they think they can either make quick money and are not patient enough to build themselves and work hard until they can achieve something,” said the father.  Before this reporter could get more details about his son or his picture, the father requested that more questions be forwarded to the police. When this reporter arrived at the scene of the shooting incident there was still a little puddle of blood of the deceased. This, according to some of the residents, is not the area that is known for illegal crossing as it was in plain sight of any motorist driving past the traffic circle leading to Sibonelo Township. What was also noticed was that the barbed wire had been cut, to which some security personnel said that no matter how many times it was repaired, the culprits continued to cut it whenever they got a chance.

“There is another area that is known for illegal crossing but it is further down the road from there, which seems to me like he was truly risking because he knew that the area along the fence was well guarded by security forces,” said one of the residents around the area. In past reports, it has been mentioned that several emaSwati and South Africans usually used illegal entries to cross the border. These entry points, which are normally called ticanco, are found at a majority of border posts.

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