CHICKEN THEFT SUSPECT STABS, KILLS COMMUNITY POLICE

MOTSHANE – A community police member died after being brutally stabbed four times by one of 18 teenagers, who were suspected of stealing chickens in the area.

The incident happened on Wednesday night at a Hlophe homestead, which is the suspect’s home. Four unarmed community police members visited the Hlophe homestead to question the suspects after receiving a tip-off that they were behind the theft of the chickens.

They were confronted by a group of teenagers and in the process, one of them (community police) was killed. Narrating the unpleasant occurrence, Chairman of the Nduma Community Police, Lucky Dube, said a clash between himself and the suspect ensued after he was hit with a dagga plant branch by the latter.

Beating

Dube stated that the other three community police members joined in beating the suspect who ran into one of the houses and came out with a group of about 18 young men, who were armed with bush and hunting (Rambo) knives.
He said due to the fact that it was dark, they could no longer identify their own. However, Dube said he followed one of the suspects who had fled towards the main road, but received a call that the deceased Themba Mkhwanazi, had been badly injured.

He stated that he then decided to call the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) as the suspects were armed with dangerous weapons, yet they were only carrying a knobkerrie and sjamboks. Dube said the situation was tense, adding that he also retaliated with the knobkerrie, hitting one of the suspects. Meanwhile, he said the area had only six community police members and they were not enough to work in the community.

Suspects

Dube said they started attending to the matter on Tuesday after apprehending one of the suspects, who had committed a different offence. He revealed that the young men were behind the theft of chickens in the area. According to Dube, they did not take the statement lightly as reports of over 50 missing chickens were made by various homes, including that of Noah Nkambule, where all his chickens went missing from a shed.

Some chicks were allegedly found burnt in a plastic bag.  He said the statement was made by the young man who had stolen money belonging to one community police member, Mthunzi Shongwe. “Shongwe requested that we bring the young man so he could explain what happened to the money which was in his car,” he said.

According to Dube, the deceased, Mkhwanazi, then searched for the young man and handed him over to Shongwe, who beat him up and he confessed to having stolen the money. He is said to have further revealed that they were also involved in the theft of chickens. He said the youngster identified the suspects he was working with, who were from various homesteads within the area.

He said all the suspects were below 20 years of age and not in school. They are said to be involved in dagga smoking and other criminal activities. “After the identification, we visited the homes of the suspects individually and took them to a local playground, where we informed them that we have collected evidence of the chickens which have been stolen in the area,” Dube said.

He said all the events unfolded on Tuesday at around 11pm, when they targeted the suspects, because during the day they were very scarce. Dube said they found all the suspects, adding that it was not the first time the chickens went missing as some of the suspects were caught with evidence. They were allegedly found with wings of the missing chickens. The chairman said the youngster who identified the group he was operating with was attacked by the others who accused him of exposing them.

On Wednesday, Dube said, the late Mkhwanazi then took the young man who was beaten to the others and asked why they were beating him as they had been warned against such. He said Mkhwanazi told them that he (Dube) wanted to see them and the suspect who allegedly stabbed Mkhwanazi said they would not go there. Dube added that Mkhwanazi then called, informing him that they would not heed that call, but he responded by telling him to leave them as they would pay them a visit late in the evening.

He said at around 8pm on the same day, they visited the Hlophe homestead, together with the witness who was had been assaulted. Dube said the witness repeated the same statement in front of the suspect that they were killing and eating the chickens. The chairman said he then approached the suspect and asked why he was prevented from seeing them together with the other suspects and he responded that he would not allow that to happen as the community police members wanted to beat them.

Dube said the suspect was carrying a dagga branch when they found him, which he then used to assault him across the face. Furthermore, he said the challenge was that they did not have any weapons to protect themselves except for the sjamboks, which were usually of no assistance. Dube said they made an appeal to the area’s Member of Parliament (MP), who offered them bibs and were taken to the umphakatsi where they were received by an elder.

“We have two factions at the umphakatsi, which do not see eye-to-eye, making our job very difficult,” said the chairman. Dube said although they were united as community police members working under Motshane, there was tension, which came from umphakatsi, as some people favoured different factions. He appealed to the authorities of the country to resolve the matter as it was affecting the community negatively.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: