Africa-Press – Eswatini. Prime minister, Cleopas Dlamini says government will rope in Interpol to bring perpetrators of violence to book.
The premier read a ministerial statement in the Senate yesterday on the current national security issues where he stated that government was aware that foreign elements were involved, resulting in the situation country found itself in. Dlamini said there were people who revealed themselves on social media platforms after having committed some of these violent acts.
He said the people whose identities were known were in foreign lands, which were also known.
“We find it difficult to believe that Emaswati are the ones orchestrating the violent attacks on Emaswati. We believe there are foreign elements in these attacks because some of these people are known and live in foreign lands,” the premier said.
Dlamini said he did not know what the perpetrators of violence wanted to achieve by their actions, adding that they burnt constituency centres, imiphakatsi, schools, as well as homes of certain individuals. He said by burning such structures, he did not believe they would achieve whatever they wanted.
Adding he said by killing people who did not agree with them, the aggressors would not achieve whatever they wanted. The prime minister sent condolences to relatives of all the people who were killed since the violence erupted in the country.
He reminded members of the public that earlier this year, His Majesty King Mswati III declared that an attack at such structures was an attack on the king himself. He said they took the concerns from the public very seriously. Despite the prime minister reading the statement, senators gave him seven days to respond on what government would do to deal with the current situation.
This was after Senator Mkhululi Dlamini moved a motion under Standing Order No. 63, where he wanted to know what government was doing to deal with the security issues. The senator said the situation had changed where unknown people were killing security officers, not just police officers.
“This is concerning because our peace is now compromised in this country and we cannot be free, as we used to be,” he said.
Senator Ngalonkhulu Mabuza was the first to debate the statement.
“It is painful to see people being killed in this way and I am failing to understand why such a thing is happening. I do not understand whether this is cannibalism or what, hence we need the premier to explain what is happening,” Mabuza said. He said Emaswati were no longer able to sleep now because they were living in fear.
He said Eswatini was known as a Christian nation and therefore, no violence should be allowed to take place in a nation known for upholding its Christian values. Senator Sigombeni Qethuka Dlamini placed his hope on the prime minister to give confidence to the nation on what government was doing to address the situation.
He said he understood that such a situation could also bring confusion to the prime minister himself because at times, he could not know the source of the violence.
“However, the prime minister is the one who was seen to have the capacity of leading the government out of such situations, hence we should look up to him to inspire confidence, with the help of God,” he said. He said with such a situation, no one would have confidence to invest in a country where people would just be killed for no apparent reason.
He called upon the premier to explain what was happening and what government was doing to address the matter.
In response, the prime minister said there were some other things that government did, which he could not reveal because it was privileged information.
However, this was not well received by Senator Mkhululi Dlamini, who interpreted it as if the premier said he did not know what government was doing to deal with the violent situation.
Senate gave the premier seven days to table written answers on what government was doing.
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