Africa-Press – Eswatini. As the dispute between farm dwellers and the owner of Mbondzela Farm intensifies, an armed security guard has gone missing.
On Saturday night, the security guard, who was on duty on the farm, was reportedly kidnapped and is still missing.
Mbondzela Farm No.19 is located along the Nhlangano – Gege Road in the Shiselweni Region. The farm is owned by Sandile Simelane of Mahamba Gorge (Pty) Ltd.
Last Wednesday, farm dwellers of Mbondzela went to the Taiwan Embassy to deliver a petition of their grievances. They had reason to believe that they were being evicted so the land could be given to Taiwanese in the country. Government released a statement addressing the issue.
Petition
Before the petition in question, they had delivered another one last Tuesday to the Gege Constituency Centre, with 12 demands that they needed attended to by last Friday.
It is worth noting that the demolition of the houses came a day after six security guards of the farm were attacked, allegedly by the residents. Four of the six guards were rushed to hospital, where two were treated and discharged and the others were admitted to hospital. The bone of contention was that the residents found their water pipes disconnected, allegedly by the guards working on the farm. These were pipes that serviced the community with water from the mountains.
Late in the afternoon on Saturday, it was gathered that one of the security guards went to fetch livestock and he left with a rifle. It was said that his colleagues noticed that he had not returned, yet it was getting late.
Sources told this publication that his colleagues went to look for him, and while on their way, they noticed his shoe prints as well as three other different prints.
The security guards are said to have gone to report the matter to their superiors. It was gathered that the police were called and they went to the area where the prints were seen.
According to the residents, they were not aware of what had transpired, though they had heard several gunshots at night. They shared that they also got the information in the morning and that they were told the police were trying to locate the missing guard.
By the time of going to print, the security guard had not been found.
Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni confirmed the incident of the missing guard at Mbondzela.
She said the police had registered a case of a missing person, adding that they were still searching for him.
Meanwhile, last Friday government issued a statement to the effect that the residents of Mbondzela Farm resided on the farm illegally, which is owned by a liSwati family.
Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo cited interventions and rulings by former ministers of Natural Resources and Energy, which were in favour of the farm owner.
“The owner of the farm mentioned to the then acting minister that the people who were benefitting from his property were squatters and not the owner who invested capital to purchase the farm,” said Nxumalo.
The farm owner is said to have offered to assist the residents with the construction of structures on land allocated to them (residents) by the Mashobeni Chiefdom.
The farm owner, according to Nxumalo, also offered to remove the graves of their family members when the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy was last seized with this matter.
Resist
Nxumalo said it was common that, when squatters resided in a property that the owner requires to develop, the dwellers then resist vacating and even begin to challenge the legal ownership.
“Notwithstanding this particular incident, the government wishes to highlight that the law frowns upon illegal occupation of private property. Farm dwellers and owners are both protected under the rule of law,” he added.
Nxumalo said they encouraged citizens to show full respect and recognition of private property, whether it belonged to individuals or corporate citizens. He said lack of respect for private property put the country in bad light in terms of attracting investments for purposes of job creation and development.
Nxumalo said citizens were supposed to respect the rule of law at all times, adding that no amount of noise would sway the country from its constitutional obligations.
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