FARM DWELLER (66) ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT

NHLANGANO – A 66-year-old man was arrested and charged with six counts of assaulting six farm workers at Mbhondzela last Sunday.

Mbhondzela is a farm located along the Nhlangano and Gege route. The farm is under Mahamba Gorge, Farm 19. It was alleged that last Sunday, four farm workers were allegedly assaulted by the dwellers for disconnecting water pipes. It was said that the water pipes were put installed by the farm dwellers to convey water from the mountains.

Four of the workers were rushed to hospital, where two were discharged while the others were reportedly in a critical condition. Mnciniseli Nhleko, who is also a farm dweller was slapped with four counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and two of common assault.
He appeared before Shiselweni  Magistrate Agrippa Bhembe.

Pleading

When pleading for bail, Nhleko told the court that his home was demolished without a court order and he spent a night outside his home that day.
He asked the magistrate what was he supposed to do when he was attacked again and he was told to report to the police. He was admitted to E1 000 bail and to return to court on September 10, 2024 for the setting of the trial date. During his court appearance, members of different political parties went to give him moral support. In fact, they even organised his bail money, which was paid while they waited.

They later convened a meeting to discuss a way forward. They first suggested delivering a petition at the regional administrator’s offices yesterday, but they later decided against this, stating that they needed to organise the march. They wondered how an elderly man like Nhleko would  be capable of assaulting  six men who would be critical in hospital, stating that such was practically impossible.

Affected

In the same meeting, they shared that there were other members of the different political parties who went to visit the affected Mbhondzela farm dwellers and requested more to join. It was said that they would be spending some time on the farm to see the way the farm dwellers were being treated. In fact, it was said that the farm dwellers had to be inside the farm premises by 6pm and the political party members shared that they would be walking in and out of the farm during the same time to see what would happen.

They further shared that they would be delivering a petition at Gege though they were yet to conclude on the exact day next week. The meeting ended with the members demonstrating in front of the court entrance together with Nhleko and other dwellers who came to give him support.

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