SOLDIERS SHOOT COUPLE AT NKOYOYO

MBABANE – Two days after shooting an employee of MTN Eswatini at Sidwashini, soldiers shot a couple at Nkoyoyo, just after midnight yesterday.

The incident happened at 12:30am.  The two were shot three times each, in their upper limbs. The man, who is a Palestinian national and runs a business in Matsapha, is currently admitted to hospital. His girlfriend was treated and discharged. The woman, *Nancy (32), told this publication that two bullets were still lodged in her upper arm and one was stuck in the businessman’s body. Nancy said they were returning from Cuddle Puddle and *Sam was driving her to Nkoyoyo, where she resides with her mother. She said it was misty and they were driving slowly. As they were approaching Nkoyoyo, she called her mother to ask her to open the gate. At the turn-off towards where she resides, according to Nancy, a black Land Rover or Landcruiser stopped in the middle of the road. She said she told her boyfriend to engage the reverse gear since they did not know who the occupants were and they suspected that it might be hijackers.  

Reverse

Nancy narrated that as Sam started to reverse the car, the four doors of the vehicle in front of them opened at once, four men alighted and started shooting at them. Nancy and Sam were travelling in a navy blue Golf 5. Sam said the car had been rented. “They were trying to kill us. You should have seen the car,” said Nancy. She alleged that after the shooting, the soldiers ordered them to jump out of the car. She said they pleaded with the soldiers to call an ambulance for them. “They said jump into your own car and drive.  I asked them how they could make us drive when they had just shot us. I said they should at least call us an ambulance but they insisted that we should get into our car and drive to the hospital.  I said we can’t drive because we were both shot in the arms. They kept saying we must drive,” said Nancy.

She also informed this publication that the soldiers then called the police. According to Nancy, they also made another call and an Isuzu or Toyota Hilux, arrived from the direction of the Nkoyoyo Royal Residence N.ancy stated that they boarded the van and met the police next to the entrance of the royal residence. She said the soldiers told them to board the police vehicle. The police, said Nancy, allegedly refused to have them board their vehicle because there were four of them on board. The police told the driver of the van to take them to Mbabane Government Hospital, she said. She also stated that at the hospital, the police gave them their contact numbers and told them to call them when they were done at the hospital. Sam was admitted and Nancy went home and she was told to return at 8am yesterday.

“I’m traumatised. I’m going through a lot. They said they would get me a psychiatrist.  What is a psychiatrist going to assist me with? I almost lost my life. What if I was driving with my children? You just come out of the car, point a gun and start shooting. No warning,” she said. According to Nancy, there was no roadblock where they were shot. She said she and Sam were sober. She said the soldiers could see that it was a man travelling with a woman but they still shot them. She alleged that they continued to shoot even after they came out of the car.

“In your right mind, what do you think you are doing? You are killing us. If I didn’t go down, I don’t know what could have happened.” Nancy said when they enquired from the soldiers why they shot them, they allegedly told them that it was not right for people to travel at that time of the night.
At the time of the interview, around 9am, Nancy said she was from the police station with her mother to look at the car. She said it was collected from members of UEDF by the police and it had bullet holes.

Superior

“My mum asked me to take pictures of it and they told her that they were waiting for somebody superior. It was in the front but they moved it to the back when we left,” she said.   UEDF Public Affairs Officer 2nd Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo, said her office had no documentation or had been furnished with any operational report to this effect. She said they would be better positioned to respond from an enlightened angle. “On an ending note, my office would advise the alleged victims to report to the nearest battalion or Defence Headquarters, this is to assist in ascertaining the underlying facts of the allegations at hand,” said Lieutenant Khumalo. Meanwhile Deputy Police Information and Communication Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said: “A shooting incident was reported, of a 27-year-old male of Matsapha and a 33-year-old female of Nkoyoyo.”
*Not real names

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