POLITICS: South African Gangs Target Swazi Motorists

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MBABANE, Mar 7 2003 (IPS) - Police have issued a traveller’s advisory for Swazi motorists using South African roads to Johannesburg and Durban following a month of murders and shootings by gangs targeting Swazi vehicles for theft.

”It is beginning to look like open hunting season on Swazi motorists by South African thugs,” legislator Sipho Vilakati said in parliament in reaction to the news this week that one of King Mswati’s top aides was attacked en route to the Indian Ocean-side city of Durban by what South African police reported were AK-47 wielding criminals.

Another legislator, Timothy Buthelezi, complained, ”They (the South Africans) first took our land, and we are now being killed”.

Buthelezi was referring to a 19th century border adjustment that shifted half of the territory then held by the Swazi tribe into areas that are now the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu/Natal provinces of South Africa. Strictly speaking, South Africa took no Swazi land; the gerrymandering was the work of British colonial authorities. But the issue has never been resolved to Swazis’ satisfaction – a border adjustment committee is a permanent fixture in government, though after ten years it has still to meet formally with South African officials – and it is raised by angry politicians whenever Swazi interests are seen to be threatened by the powerful neighbour, or Swazi lives are lost, as now.

King Mswati’s aide, Qethuka Dlamini, escaped alive from his pursuers. Noted for his elaborate praise singing of the king’s biography at public functions, which is an old Swazi tradition, he successfully outran his pursuers, who nonetheless riddled the sports utility vehicle he was driving with bullet holes. Dlamini’s escape was lucky. The same method of attack resulted in the fatal shooting of a Swazi attorney on the road from the Oshoek border post to Carolina last week. Her passengers were injured.

This week, a prominent businessperson had his vehicle taken by armed hijackers on the same road.

The trigger-happy car hijackers, who apparently are targeting Swazi motorists who are identifiable by their car registration tags, are causing an international incident. The government of the small landlocked kingdom, which is surrounded on three sides by South Africa, has promised to press into service its diplomats in Pretoria to save Swazi lives.

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Khoza told parliament that cabinet would send foreign minister Abednego Nthangase to meet with South Africa’s foreign minister over the spate of killings and carjacking aimed at Swazi motorists.

”It is a mystery why Swazis are being victimised,” the manager of a car tracking security firm told IPS. ”But one theory is that Swazi cars, unlike South African vehicles, are thought to be less secure, with less likelihood that they will be linked to a satellite tracking system like the one we provide.”

Police sources told IPS that the car hijackers are simply taking advantage of foreigners who are caught in a strange land.

”No matter how familiar we are with South Africa – and Swazis travel over the border all the time – that is still not our home, and we are vulnerable,” the manager of the car tracking security firm said.

Swazi road freight operators have stepped up security on their vehicles, which use the Carolina highway to Johannesburg.

”We have the usual safety precautions, like global positioning system technology to pinpoint our vehicles, and our drivers check in every half hour on their cell phones, but we are considering moving the trucks in convoys,” a manager of a Matsapha-based road freight company said.

Convoys were last used by Swazi transport operators to travel to and from Maputo during Mozambique’s civil war and post-war disturbances.

Police spokesperson Assistant Superintendent Vusie Masuku told IPS that there have been no reports of Swazi motorists troubled in Mozambique since the 1990s, but attacks against Swazi drivers in South Africa are now routine.

For their part, South African police have promised a special investigative unit to track what they believe are gangs of car hijackers who specialise in attacks on Swazi motorists.

This week, police in the KwaZulu-Natal province arrested a gunman they suspect was involved in the attack on King Mswati’s praise singer.

”It is in South Africa’s interest to stop these attacks on visitors,” a South African police source told IPS. ”There is the matter of being a good neighbour to Swazis, and presenting a safe and welcoming place to visit, but we also must protect our tourism industry.”

South Africa is promoting itself as a world-class tourist destination, and hopes to exploit its scenic and cultural attractions to lure visitors from overseas and also Africans from neighbouring countries.

However, the problem of crime has hindered those efforts by giving the country a reputation as a dangerous place for tourists. The Johannesburg newspaper ‘The Star’ listed the ”pros and cons” of why South Africa should be chosen as the venue for the world’s most widely-watch sporting event, the Soccer World Cup. Topping the list of ”cons” was ”Perceptions about crime”.

Swazi motorists who are being shot at by South African thugs in Wild West fashion are willing to testify that it is not a matter of ”perceptions” about crime, but actual crime itself that is troubling them during visits.

Choosing a pro-active rather than defensive response, South African police said they intend to not only vigorously investigate tourist-related crimes, and prosecute perpetrators, but they have mounted special ”flying units” of police to patrol highways in the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu/Natal provinces where Swazi travellers are facing increasing peril on what are supposed to be routine journeys of shopping and relaxation.