MALINDZA: Malindza residents protested on Wednesday demanding that the politically connected Inyatsi Construction restore their water supply after destroying their dam during the construction of a road.
Speaking to this Swaziland News, Make Malindzisa, a resident of the area who was part of the protest said they wanted the company to restore their water supply from the dam.
“We are residents of the area earning a living through farming and our livestock is now struggling to access water because the dam was destroyed by Inyatsi.We depend on the dam for farming vegetables that we sell as a source of income, now we are made to be poor because no one cares about our grievances.Now every farmer has to pay E 5.00 every month for water to be be filled in the livestock's dip tank which was also affected. We have been engaging them but nothing happened and we are treated as if we don't exist”,she said.
Inyatsi Construction is owned by Michello Shakantu, the husband of Justice Minister Pholile Shakantu, the company is also linked to King Mswati allegedly through Tibiyo TakaNgwane.
A representative of Inyatsi (Ngwenya) site manager who tried to address the residents had a tough time trying to explain, he said he was just an employee and was told go back to his car. At the time, the residents were blocking trucks from conducting duties within the area.
Eswatini is a tiny Kingdom with about 70% of the population living below the poverty line, some Swazis in the rural areas survive through subsistence farming.
Malindza residents block Inyatsi.