Africa-Press – Eswatini. High Court WHILE admitting that there were gunshots fired when their plant was burnt in June last year, Risk Manager at Eswatini Beverages Sibusiso Dlamini says there were no killings on the night.
Dlamini was paraded as witness number 31 in the on-going trial of Members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube at the High Court yesterday.
During cross-examination by Advocate Jacobus van Vurren for the defence, who asked Dlamini if they found human body parts from the remains of the burnt crates during the clearing process, the witness replied to the contrary. “Although there was a lot of gunfire on the night, no killings were reported.
There were also no (evidence of) human body parts found during the clearing process,” he said.
When further asked by Advocate van Vurren if he took part in the clearing process at the burnt plant, again Simelane said he was there almost throughout the process and insisted that no one was killed.
During the trial, Dlamini was the only witness that was grilled by the defence, as most of the witnesses were not cross-examined but gave brief testimonies.
Narrating the incident on the night of the burning of the Breweries plant, Simelane told the court that he received a call on June 27 informing him that one of the windows within the factory was damaged and an empty bottle smelling of petrol was found.
The matter, according to him, was reported to the police and he proceeded home. However, just before he could reach home, he again received yet another call informing him that there was a group of people who were invading the plant and had already set alight the place where they destroyed store crates and new bottles, amongst other things. He stated that personnel from the National Fire and Emergency Services arrived at the scene but left again after being attacked by the mob.
“After the arrival of members of the security forces, the fire personnel returned and tried to extinguish the fire.
“They, however, failed to extinguish the raging fire since the burning crates were plastic, which resulted in the fire burning for four days,” he said. This witness further informed the court that one of the security guards was injured during the incident after he slipped into some burning crates. He mentioned that after the incident he met with his superiors through a Zoom meeting and that is where a crisis management team was formed to deal with the situation.
Damages
“After assessment was done on the damages, the crisis management team made findings that the damages reached E38 million,” he stated. Relating about another incident, the risk manager told the court that one of trucks got stuck while on the way to make a delievery at Ruchi Wholesalers.
He said as risk manager he proceeded there, where he found his staff on the side of the road while some members of the public looted the full load of Castle Milk Stout.
“I tried warning them against coming closer to the truck, as it was bound to fall on them due to its position and they obliged.
Police eventually arrived and helped us deal with the situation,” he said. Also paraded was a security guard from a garage in Matsapha who explained before court how import cars were burnt at Ka-khoza.
He told the court that a group of protesters allegedly threatened to throw him into burning cars.
This witness, Nkululeko Dlamini, told the court how more than 50 cars were reduced into ashes at a garage at Madoda near Kakhoza in Manzini. Sale While being led in evidence by Advocate Gerald Leppan, the witness told the court that the group gatecrashed into the dealership parking lot, where import vehicles known as Dubais were on display for sale.
“They then proceeded to burn car tyres before proceeding to set the cars on fire, reducing them into ashes,” he said. This witness went on to tell the court that after seeing the cars being torched, he informed his boss of Indian origin. According to this witness, his boss advised him against coming anywhere near the yard as he might endanger himself.
The group then noticed that he was calling his boss and bade for his blood and also told him to surrender his phone before allegedly threatening to throw him into the ranging flames. He told the court that he then got the opportunity to run for dear life and hid at a nearby bush near Ka-khoza.
He later ran towards other homestead where he sought refuge since it was in the wee hours of that morning.
The trial continues as the Crown is leading more witnesses.
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