Mananga border post under attack

The Customs office at Swaziland’s Mananga border post came under petrol bomb attack and suffered equipment damage and temporary closure this week. Destroyed in the blast were office machinery and documents required to process goods passing through the border post, which is primarily used for road freight traffic to and from northeast Mpumalanga, including Nelspruit and Komatipoort. The Swaziland Department of Customs and Excise told FTW that operations had returned to normal on Monday. The attack occurred the previous Thursday night at around 9:30 pm. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Swaziland Department of Customs and Excise along with police have requested the public to come forth with any leads. An MTN Swaziland substation near Mananga was similarly petrol bombed a week prior to the attack on the customs office, resulting in R500 000 damage and a mobile phone blackout for the vicinity. Petrol bombings have decreased in Swaziland after a spate of attacks on government facilities two years ago. Some members of banned political parties were arrested and are on trial for the attacks but cases are still in court. This is the first time the road freight infrastructure has been targeted, and cargo haulers and clearing and forwarding agents contacted by FTW expressed concern that Swaziland, which imports nearly 90% of its goods from South Africa including all petrol products, may be vulnerable to similar attacks in future.