ARSONISTS TIE UP GUARD, PETROL-BOMB EPTC BASE STATION

MANZINI - Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) has incurred a loss as one of its base stations at Ekukhulumeni, Ntondozi, was torched on Sunday morning.

Investigations into the arson attack are still ongoing and no arrests have been made yet. The cost of the damage has not been ascertained. Clients were not affected by the incident as there was minimal damage inside the station, save for the entrance. It was gathered that the arsonists pounced on a security guard, whom they tied up and took his cellphone. The arsonists are said to have then proceeded to petrol-bomb the main entrance.

Attack

According to a source, the security guard was released after the attack and his cellphone was later found some kilometres away from the site, where the incident happened. EPTC Corporate Communications Manager Nqobile Magagula confirmed the arson attack at the Ekukhulumeni Base Station. Magagula revealed that the entrance of the building was extensively damaged, as well as the back-up batteries for the systems house were also destroyed by the fire. However, she said there was minimal damage inside the base station. “The team is still on the ground trying to assess the financial damage to the company. The communication systems are still running so our customers were not affected,” she said.

Reported

The telephone company’s spokesperson added that the matter was reported to the police. When drawn for comment, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said the police had not received the report at the time of compiling this article. Recently, the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard) incurred a loss of E65 000 due to a suspected arson attack. The incident happened between 11pm and 11:45pm at Ncabeni Fresh Produce Market at Nokwane, where the storeroom building housing a finance department and other rooms, was torched by unknown people.

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