Home | News | ARSONISTS WANT TO KILL ME FOR MONEY - PASTOR SIHLE

ARSONISTS WANT TO KILL ME FOR MONEY - PASTOR SIHLE

24/12/2022 07:46:00 Sibusiso Zwane

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MHLABUBOVU – Pastor Sihle Dlamini believes that the arsonists want to kill him for money, but he says nothing will stop him from carrying out his mandate.

Dlamini, who is occupying three key public positions; Estate Manager at the King’s Office, Interpreter for His Majesty King Mswati III and a pastor at the influential Jesus Calls Worship Centre (JCWC), said this after his parental home was torched for the second time in a space of a year.

The affected pastor’s parental home is located at Mhlabubovu, by the road to Mankayane in the Manzini Region and it was attacked by armed arsonists on Thursday at around 9pm. There were four people at the homestead; a man who works as a groundsman, his wife and two children aged two years and 11 months and they occupy a one-room house, with a small sitting room.

According to a source close to the matter, four men arrived at the pastor’s parental home and posed as police officers from Mankayane Police Station, who had come to ask the groundsman to assist them in one of the cases they were investigating. The source said after being made to believe that the men who were outside were law enforcers, the groundsman woke up and opened the door for them. He said immediately after opening the door, the four men pushed him inside and continued to pose as police officers as they asked them what was it that they were trying to hide.

Instructions

In a sudden change of events, the source said two of the men, who were armed with guns (pistols), ordered them to lie face down on the floor and they took their cellphones. He said they told them that they have seen that they had not taken their instructions of not renovating the house which they torched in December 2021. In vernacular, he said the men said; “Anivanga yini kutsi satsini kucala ngalendlu? Niyilungiselani?” Thereafter, he said they were ordered to step out of the house with the children, who were already crying at the time. He said they ordered them to sit on a septic tank which is next to their house while some of the armed men guarded them.

In the meantime, he said the other two men, went to the rondavel which had a grass thatched roof with only its veranda roofed with harvey tiles and they doused it with petrol before setting it alight. After that, he said they then went to the house where the groundsman and his family were living. Again, he said they sprinkled petrol in the house and set it alight. He added that when burning the rondavel, they took two curtains.

Attack

He said they then proceeded to the main house, which was being renovated following the arson attack in December 2021 and they sprinkled petrol on the curtains. “Then, they threw the curtains into the newly refurbished house which had new ceiling installed in the two different rooms and set it alight,” the source said. According to the source, the arsonists’ plan, according to the conversation he overheard, was that the ceiling would catch the fire from the burning curtains and burn down the whole house. However, the ceiling was only burnt where the curtains were thrown.

“We don’t know that happened, we believe it was a miracle the house did not burn down,” the source said.
He said the arsonists had all the time they needed as they spent about an hour at the homestead, before they left to board a car, which was supposedly parked not far away from the home. He said the car took the gravel road towards Lundzi and they believe that some people were out there guarding the perimeter, either in or by the car to make sure that they dealt with anyone who might come by or tip the arsonists if there was something that could disturb or cause some trouble for them. He said while burning the houses, the arsonists asked the whereabouts of Pastor Sihle and his mother. He said they even asked for their cellphone numbers.

Bomb

Meanwhile, the speech interpreter of the King, who was found together with a team of armed police officers, including those from the Bomb Disposal Unit, at his parental home yesterday at around 7am, said he believed that the arsonists knew that he was not staying there. The team of police officers was led by Senior Superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane and Manzini Regional Crime Branch Officer (RCBO) Thabo Hlophe. Later on, Manzini Regional Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner Elvis Shabangu also came to the scene.

However, despite the fact that the pastor believes that the arsonists knew that he was not residing there, he mentioned that he believed that he was one of their main targets. He said this was because they (arsonists) targeted different people, low key and prominent ones. “These people cash-in every time after hitting a target. Every target has a price tag. The amount of money they get depends on the magnitude of the target and I believe that if they can kill me, they can be paid handsomely as I am regarded as a high profile one (target),” the pastor said.

He emphasised that he believed that he was a target of the arsonists because of the money they would get after torching his property or killing him. He said this was because after killing him or bombing his property, it did not mean that they would get the democracy, which they claim they wanted, but they would be paid handsomely.

Fearful

Again, he said he was aware that by attacking them and members of the State security organs, they would be fearful and go into hiding. “No, we are not going to cower away or hide, but we will continue with our mandate of serving the country and push it to first world status,” the pastor said and stated that the acts of violence would vanish as time goes on. It is worth noting that during the previous arson attack at the pastor’s parental home, which took place during the same month last year, six armed men tied the groundsman and set three houses alight, while they demanded to know where Dlamini and his mother were. Damage caused by the fire was estimated at E150 000.