Mbabane –Some parents of the killed officers say giving employment to their spouse was a glaring blunder.
The Independent News Desk has established that government has compensated the families who had their members killed by Solidarity forces through offering their members employment.
The Solidarity Forces has, in the past year, been known to have participated in the murder of over 10 people, who included a chief and State security personnel.
A police recruit is said to have joined the force while in the middle of his mourning process. And the compensation (employment) has somehow divided some families.
A parent to one of the deceased has alleged that as soon as her daughter in law got employment, she started acting in a questionable way. Amongst other things, she alleges that her late son’s wife stopped talking to her and stopped coming home soon after getting the job.
“As it is now, there is nothing that directly points to me as compensation for losing my son while he diligently worked for the country. It was very much of a risk to employ a female because obviously she will find love and move on, yet my son was our breadwinner. We are left in hunger”.
The Independent News Desk discovered that the bone of contention is that some family members feel that the beneficiary should have been be a blood relative to the deceased as compared to wife as a beneficiary.
“Another painful factor is that when my daughter in law left for the police college, he was still mourning his husband hence there was still the need for all the traditional processes that we still had to do for her. Ironically, when she was released from the police college for a short break, she went to her biological home and performed the rituals with her biological parents.”
When the deceased met his death, he was working as a traffic cop at Sgodvweni Matsapha and his parental home is in the Hhohho region.
A family member who is a brother to the deceased confirmed that government employed the wife to his late brother. He, however said there were a lot of inconsistences that transpired during the process of employing their sister-in-law.
“The officers who were tasked with engaging us never came home but instead ordered that we meet somewhere along the road something which didn’t go down well with us. Our mother was never consulted with all the procedures that facilitated the employment of my brother’s wife.”
He however said there was nothing much they could do except only to try and make sure that my brother’s children come and stay home. He pointed out that some were kept at an orphanage.
Speaking through Acting Ludzidzini Governor Themba Ginindza, the King said the removal of the mourning gowns was in respect of the celebration of the 55 years of independence, which was celebrated together with the King’s Birthday. “The removal of the mourning gowns (tinzilo) does not mean widowed women should do as they please. They should keep mourning in heart until their allotted time for cleansing (kubeka phasi). Widowed women are not expected to move up and down as if the mourning period is over,” Ginindza said.
Elected Nkomiyahlaba Member of Parliament (MP) Thulani Dlamini’s twin brother Bonginkosi Goninsika Dlamini was one of the police alleged killed by members of the Solidarity Forces.
He was on the contrary full of praise for what the government have done since his brother left behind children.
“Government of course with blessings from their Majesties have employed the mother of the children which has taken the possible burden on our shoulders.”
An emotional Dlamini said he has not recovered from his brother’s death.
“He was my twin brother and both of us did the same job (police officers). We did most things together and it hurts even today. We mourn all those who passed away during that sad period in the country. My brother’s oldest child was nine years and the last one less than six months,” Dlamini said in an interview.
Subsequently, in June this year the man purported to be the commander of the Solidarity Forces Thabo Kunene and an accomplice were arrested by Eswatini police. As reported, the pair was arrested along the borderline with South Africa.
Their arrest was subsequent to a video footage wherein the duo was accused of trying to steal firearms. The pair was said to have committed the criminal act in South Africa at one of the homesteads of a businessman and traditional healer, known as Dr Mkhulu.
In visual footages which circulated on social media, Kunene, who claimed to be the leader of the solidarity forces, said his entity had killed 14 people in total.
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