E610 000 DAMAGE AS 10 MEN INVADE COP’S HOME

NKILIJI – “Tell your husband that we demand democracy, we are not here to play.”

This was the order that the wife to police officer James Motsa was reportedly given by about 10 men, who invaded their home at Nkiliji and torched the main house in full view of the wife, who was in the company of her grandson. The wife was said to have been in one of the other houses when the arson attack happened. The arsonists reportedly further doused petrol on a white Toyota van belonging to Motsa before they left their message and took off. The arson attack occurred on Thursday at around 8:15pm when the wife was asleep in one of the other houses within the family compound.

A visit to the Motsa homestead found some community members who had convened to give moral support to the couple whose property valued at E610 000 was damaged. There was a semblance of sorrow and dejection, and spirits were low as police officers also joined to conduct their own investigations. They were resolute and yet beset with empathy for their colleague, who had yet been another recent victim of arson attacks on law enforcers. The police officer was found at his home together with his wife, both in a sombre and unflinching mood.

Trauma

Despite the trauma inflicted on the family in the loss of their newly-established home, the police officer was polite to spare a few moments with this reporter for an interview. He confirmed that unknown people invaded his home, where they found his wife and torched their house. They later reportedly burnt his car. Before long, there was a long silence and one of the family members, who later joined was heard crying hysterically after the wife had shared what had happened. Due to the ongoing investigations by the police, the law enforcer referred this reporter to a close relative, who narrated the traumatic encounter.

The relative narrated that the wife was in the house with her six-year-old grandson at around 8:15pm when she was alarmed by the barking of dogs outside. He detailed that the wife peeped through the window and saw about 10 men dousing petrol on their white van from a five litre container.
To this, it was disclosed that the wife raised the alarm, which drew the arsonists closer to the house they were in and demanded that they got out of the house as they were about to set it on fire. According to the close relative, the arsonists were carrying guns, which could not be described as it was dark. “She (wife) asked them to wait a bit as she was dressing and requested to have documents removed from the main house. But they told her it was too late as it was already in flames. Indeed when she went outside, she discovered that their house was on fire,” the relative revealed.

Neighbours

The relative further mentioned that after realising that they had set alight the white van, the wife quickly went to the garage and removed a sedan car as she feared that it may catch flames. At this instance, it was shared that some neighbours heard and saw that the cop’s wife was being attacked. It was further disclosed that one of them raised the alarm but was quickly silenced by one of the men, who shot at the neighbour’s direction and ordered that she kept silent. According to the family member, the attackers ran off and got on board a car which disappeared into the night.

“Before they left, one of them gently took the wife’s hand and led her just next to the house. She thought she was going to be sexually assaulted but she begged him not to harm her. The response she got was this; ‘tell your husband that we demand democracy, we are not here to play,’ and they all fled,” detailed the relative. The family member elaborated that when the arsonists were burning the house, they kept ordering both the law enforcer’s wife and her grandson to lie facing down. He said the grandson, unable to understand what was going on, kept on looking, much against the directive of their captives. As she watched her house being reduced to ashes, the relative alluded to that she became hysterical and this time around, the grandson was the one comforting her. The distraught relative revealed that the house had been recently completed after it was built in 2018 when the coronavirus pandemic began.

Kitchen

Meanwhile, a tour around the torched house found everything reduced into ashes, from the ceiling to the tiles. Remnants of what used to be beds, wardrobes, as well as kitchen stove were the only visible items. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the arson attack on the police officer’s homestead on Thursday. The police spokesperson said no arrests had been made and that the police were still investigating the matter.

It is worth noting that officer Motsa is among several officers of the law who are victims of arson attacks by unknown people. Recently, a soldier’s house was torched in a supposed disguise to steal her full uniform at Ngculwini on November 6. Lungile Ndzinisa (30), who is a member of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF), had her house set alight by unknown arsonists for the second time within a space of two months.
In another incident, a police officer’s house was petrol-bombed by two unidentified people at Maliyaduma in the wee hours of the morning. The damage of the arson is said to be approximately over E50 000.  

The police officer, who is stationed at Mliba Police Station was reportedly inside his house together with his wife and minor child, estimated to be two years old, when the arson took place at around 2am. Everything was reduced to ashes inside the house, save for the building. Meanwhile, in what could be termed as a direct response to the recent soldiers’ brutality, a senior military man suffered damages amounting to about E1.2 million after his three-bedroom house was torched. The incident took place in May at around 10pm at Corporal Michael ‘Manjengeni’ Vilakati’s home at Ngculwini, in the Manzini Region.

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