KILLED COPS: MUM LEARNS OF SON’S DEATH IN BUS

MBABANE - The mother of one of the police officers murdered on Tuesday heard about his son’s death while on board a bus less than 20 minutes after seeing him.

Make Mabundza, who stays at Mpolonjeni, Mbabane, was travelling home from Manzini when she heard that certain police officers had been shot dead. This is according to Phumzile Bongwe, who is a relative to the slain officer. Bongwe spoke to reporters from this publication at Mpolonjeni, Mbabane yesterday. This was after the mother of Sifiso Mthembu (40), who is one of the murdered police officers, was overcome by emotions when these reporters introduced themselves and explained the purpose of their visit to her homestead.

Narrated

According to Bongwe, Make Mabundza’s television set had broken down and Mthembu, who is her firstborn son, told her to bring it to Manzini so that he would take it for repairs. She narrated that Make Mabundza took the television set to her son on Tuesday and left it with him. According to Bongwe, Mthembu’s mother spent sometime with her son before he rushed to work. Bongwe added that Make Mabundza and Mthembu were calling each other between 11am and sometime past noon, when she was on her way to Mbabane after they had parted. Bongwe stated that it was less than 20 minutes after leaving her son, who told her that he was rushing to work, when she heard that some police officers had been killed.

She said Make Mabundza and Mthembu were on the phone again after she had boarded a bus to Mbabane and along the way, before it reached the traffic lights at Nazarene, a passenger got on the bus and started talking about police officers who had been shot dead. According to Bongwe, Make Mabundza had been on the phone with Mthembu a few minutes before the passenger boarded the bus and talked about the killed officers. Upon hearing that some police officers had been killed, said Bongwe, Make Mabundza immediately called Mthembu and he did not answer his cellphone.
Bongwe said she suspected that Mthembu and Menzi ‘Siyazi’ Dlamini were killed just after Make Mabundza had dropped the phone after their conversation.

Roadblock

Mthembu and Dlamini were killed around noon on Tuesday. They were manning a roadblock behind the Grand Valley (GV) Complex. According to sources, the police officers were killed in a brazen attack by gunmen, who did not bother to cover their faces. The shooting of the officers spread like wildfire on social media. Social media users posted various comments after the death of the officers. Bongwe said they were not concerned about what people were saying on social media. She said everyone was entitled to post whatever they want on social media. The incident drew a large number of public transport workers, members of the public and police officers who were off duty. It happened about an hour and a half before the officers completed their shift.

Regulations

In a quest to ensure that the public transport vehicles adhered to the instruction of not using the residential route, the officers were said to have been barricading the road in order to penalise those who were in defiance of the rules and regulations. While in the scope of their duties, a witness who saw everything unfold, said a Honda Fit, beige (khaki) in colour approached them (officers) driving towards Central Distributor Road (Mavuso Public Road) and the officers stopped them. The witness, *Msimisi, said two occupants of the vehicle alighted from the Honda Fit and engaged the officers. Msimisi said as he drove closer, he saw the police officers walking towards their vehicle and lying on the ground. At this instance, he said, one of the people who alighted from the Honda Fit had a pistol aimed at them. He said the police officers lied on the ground about five metres away from the road. As he saw this, Msimisi claimed to have informed an occupant of the vehicle he was driving that the police officers were seemingly pointed at with a gun. This, he said, was dismissed by his passenger. However, seconds later, Msimisi claimed that loud gunshots were fired as the two people who were pointing the guns at the duo fled into their car.

Targeted

As this happened, Msimisi said he alighted from his vehicle and fled the scene as quickly as possible. This, he said, was to avert being targeted by the gunmen as he had seen them. The police, through the Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, immediately after the shooting appealed to the public to assist them in locating the suspects, who are believed to be three. She said one of them had dreadlocks while his accomplice was short and dark in complexion. “The suspects attacked two traffic police officers while they were engaging in their duties and also took an assault rifle – R4,” Vilakati said. She said the suspects were said to have driven toward the Manzini city centre after committing the murders. Vilakati appealed to the public to contact the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) on their toll free number 999/9999.

Contact

Alternatively, she said the public could contact the Manzini Regional Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner Elvis Shabangu on his mobile number – 7606 4110 or Manzini Regional Crime Branch Officer (RCBO) Thabo Hlophe on 7606 8570. It is worth noting that following the spate of police killings, traffic officers have been working in groups with one of them carrying an R4 assault rifle.  Also, police officers were offered bullet proof vests as part of enhancing their safety subsequent to the hike in the number of law enforcement agents who were being targeted and aimed at, with live rounds.

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