Mbabane: A civil servant has been summoned to the Magistrates Courts for allegedly issuing death threats to Private Investigator (PI) Hunter Shongwe. The accused is Njabulo Dlamini who works at the Manzini Revenue offices.
According to information reaching Independent News, the bone of contention emanated from a disagreement regarding money Dlamini paid for repairs to his vehicle. Dlamini had sent his car for servicing at a motor repairs garage owned by Shongwe. Dlamini confirms that he is to appear before the magistrate’s courts on allegations that he threatened to kill the private investigator.
Dlamini says “Hunter went to the police and lied claiming that I threatened to kill him. What is very disappointing is the manner in which the police have handled this case from the beginning. The police appear to be treating people differently and others such as Shongwe are given preferential treatment.”
Narrating the incident Dlamini says “my car developed mechanical faults near Shongwe’s mechanical garage in Matsapha and I decided to request that they repair it. From the morning of that day, the mechanics I found there tried to sort out the fault. They suggested that I should leave it and return it later to fetch it. On the next day, I went to the garage to check on the motor vehicle and I found that nothing had been done to fix the fault. What I also discovered was that when I left the garage, the mechanics stopped attending on my car and continued with their other errands. I then established that I was just wasting my time and asked that they let me take it to another mechanics since it was clear that they were unable to fix the problem. Shongwe and his mechanics then demanded that I should pay E 500.”
According to Dlamini this, did not go down well with him because he failed to understand why he had to pay as they had not fixed the car. “I asked Shongwe what I should pay for because nothing has been done to fix my vehicle and he said even at the hospital, there were consultation fees. I called the police to report the matter right in front of them and he told me to point black that even if I called the police, there was nothing they will do to help me. A police officer who identified himself as Ginindza called me later in the evening of the same day and told me that I should hire a lawyer. I told him I could not afford one.”
Things got worse when I discovered that some parts of my car had been stolen while at Shongwe’s garage. It is at this point that I decided that in actual fact I was the victim here especially because I had already paid up to E 600 up front. My complaint fell on deaf ears at the police station after Hunter Shongwe lied and told them that I had assaulted him verbally. I was then arrested and fined E 900. However, I still insisted that he pay me back the money that he owed me.”
There are also things he said about my wife who he identified on my WhatsApp profile picture. He said he had discovered where my wife lived. I reported the matter to the police but they did not do anything. He further told me that he can make it possible for me to get arrested and be denied bail.
Shongwe was also reached for comment on the matter and insisted that he has been receiving death threats from the Dlamini and not the other way round.
Shongwe said, “He has a suspended sentence and has been threatening to kill me for money he claims he is owned by the people I hired as mechanics. If they had robbed him, he had to follow the proper and legal procedure to claim his money. When I arrived at the garage, I found him with roughly seven of the workers arguing. I asked politely why they did not address the issue as adults and talk to each other instead of fighting.”
The PI added that his mechanics agreed to pay Dlamini E250 and he allegedly started to threaten him.
“You cannot threaten me as a liSwati and private investigator and this is what I told him. He continued to threaten to kill me but let me say that it is very hard to kill me. I have extensive military training from the United States of America. It is hard to kill me whether you are a police officer or soldier, you cannot kill me that easily. I have many guns and you cannot threaten me and expect me not to respond,” said the private investigator.
Shongwe also confirmed that he had laid a charge against Dlamini and he will be appearing in court on December 20, 2021. He also confirmed that he had been sending him messages on the phone just to warn him to desist from his senseless behaviour.
Meanwhile, the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) have always maintained that all citizens are treated equally before the law. The constitution also highlights that all persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political, economic, social, and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law.
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