Durban - The eSwatini government has slammed Godrich Gardee for his allegations that King Mswati was behind his daughter, Hillary Gardee’s death.
Godrich Gardee believes that King Mswati killed his daughter, Hillary Gardee.
Speaking to SAFM's Sakina Kamwendo, eSwatini spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said he would not dignify Gardee's claims with a response.
"Our government does not have a history of running after people, taking people down because they toyi-toyi at the border because of their political beliefs. I don’t know why Mr Gardee regards himself so highly, politically. These claims have got absolutely no truth in them, and our government cannot dignify it by giving it comment," he said.
Nxumalo said Gardee, as a parliamentarian, should focus on bringing legislation that will reduce crime in South Africa instead of making up conspiracy theories. He said Gardee should allow the country's justice system to unfold.
In a series of tweets posted on Tuesday, the former Secretary-General of the Economic Freedom Fighters blamed the eSwatini monarch for his daughter's abduction and subsequent murder.
Hillary was kidnapped in April this year, and her body was found days later in Mbombela. Hillary had been stabbed and had a gunshot wound at the back of her head. To date, police have arrested three men in connection with the 28-year-old woman's murder.
Gardee said, on April 24, four borders were closed and each for more than six hours.
"There was no income for the eSwatini government. King Mswati was angry and unleashed his foreign intelligence service with a robbery and decoy and killed Hillary Gardee," he tweeted.
On 12 April 2022...four borders were closed and each for more than 6 hours. There was no income for @EswatiniGovern1 #KingMswatiKilledHillary The King was angry & he unleashed his foreign intelligence service with a robbery decoy & killed #HillaryGarder pic.twitter.com/Og0cqONR12
— Godrich Gardee (@GardeeGodrich) August 2, 2022
Gardee also slammed SAPS' "shoddy investigation" into his daughter's death, which he claimed has been influenced by the eSwatini government to avoid diplomatic fallout.
"Hillary is not a victim of common robbery crime. The refusal by SA Police Services to hand over the docket to the Hawks and the investigation to be led by Hawks is exactly to ensure that we end with a cold case and truth of eSwatini government involvement is not unearthed," he added," he said.
Gardee said it was not coincidental that after the EFF marched to the King's land and disrupted the eSwatini immigration offices that 17 days later, his daughter was kidnapped.
It is not a coincidence that after we marched on 12 April to the no man's land and disrupted @EswatiniGovern1 immigration officers that 17 days later, 29 April our daughter #HillaryGardee is kidnapped, her daughter dumped & a self styled exiled PUDEMO member is arrested.... pic.twitter.com/6hXUihKObK
— Godrich Gardee (@GardeeGodrich) August 1, 2022
#KingMswatiKilledHillary The shoddy investigation by @SAPoliceService is influenced by @EswatiniGovern1 to avoid diplomatic fallout.... on 26 April 2016..this is what we said about the plight of people of eSwatini. Hillary is not a victim of common robbery crime !! pic.twitter.com/GwGz6v97CG
— Godrich Gardee (@GardeeGodrich) August 1, 2022
Meanwhile, a multi-disciplinary team will be set up to investigate how Hillary Gardee was kidnapped and murdered. This comes after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled in the Gardee family’s favour.
The family filed an application with the court demanding that the murder case be prioritised. The family have also asked that Police Minister Bheki Cele be involved. The court ruled that the team must fully investigate the matter and keep the family updated every step of the way. It found that SAPS management had failed to correctly carry out their duties.
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