Der Unfall eines LKW, der mit 36 t Mais beladen war, macht im Moment Schlagzeilen in den Medien. Diesmal keine Katastrophe auf der schwierigen Strecke von Südafrika ins Swasiländische Industriegebiet, da der Fahrer mit leichten Verletzungen ins Krankenhaus kam.
Ich werde die Meldung so einstellen, wie sie im Observer stand. Die Reporterin hat sauber recherchiert und berichtet. Ein PR-Gau für die Futtermittelindustrie in diesem Land. Und den weltweit agierenden Maisproduzenten genmanipulierter Sorten ist das bestimmt sehr unangenehm. Doch lest selber!
36 tonnes
GM maize looted in minutes
18/09/2016
03:00:00STORIES BY THEMBEKA DLAMINI
Hundreds of
the Sidvwashini residents helping themselves to maize which spilt on the road
after a truck overturned after 7am yesterday morning. The road was clean within
an hour. (Pics: Thembeka Dlamini)
Hundreds of
Sidvwashini residents and passersby flocked an accident scene yesterday morning
under the Limkokwing-Engen Garage foot bridge and looted E140 000 worth of
yellow maize destined for FeedMasters in Matsapha.
Mbabane
bound traffic came to a standstill after a truck carrying 36tonnes of
genetically modified yellow maize failed to negotiate the corner after a
suspected tyre burst and landed on its side blocking the two lanes while
spilling its consignment on the road.
The force of the accident spread the maize several directions as some
was found over 40 metres away.
Immediately
after the accident, a handful of residents, who were alerted by the loud
screech of the rim against tar and subsequent banging of the carriage as the
truck landed on its side, approached the scene and on noting that the
consignment was of maize, ran home to collect an assortment of containers while
others called for the same to be delivered using their cellular phones.
“Ngisayogaya,
bantfwana balambile,” a woman, who only offered her identity as laVilakati,
said as soon as she had secured 50kg of the loot.
Several
children, who confessed to have been sent by their parents as they were able to
run to the scene quicker, were also found using their hands and buckets as
scoops in order to collect as much maize as they could.
The arrival
of police officers failed to deter the looters as there seemed to only be a
handful with only one armed with a gun against the multitudes.
Attempts to
stop them from collecting the maize ended up looking like a spectacle of fun as
looters ran circles around two officers, one armed and the other with a stick,
who earnestly tried to stop them whereas their colleagues noted that their
efforts would be useless and accepted to watch helplessly.
As
residents collected in sacks, buckets and wheel barrows, some drivers who
initially slowed down due to the traffic congestion, came to a complete halt
around the accident scene and used anything they came across to collect the
maize into their car boots. Most, due to the absence of containers, poured the
maize grain directly into their cars.
Some of the
residents who seemed to have collected more than what they needed immediately
set-up stations along the concrete barriers and advertised by calling out that
their maize was for sale.
With the
first looters getting relatively clean maize, stragglers seemed undeterred by
oil stained maize with most saying they were collecting it for their chickens.
Driver
hurt, rushed to Mbabane Government Hospital
The lone
driver of the truck, which lost its consignment of yellow maize destined for
FeedMasters in Matsapha, was injured on his legs.
According
to Traffic Officer Constable Londi Vilakati, their preliminary investigations
attributed the accident to speeding.
Of note is
that, despite the faint drizzle, the road was dry thus ruling out slippery
conditions.
Negotiate
“The driver
said he was not used to the road and failed to negotiate the corner,” Vilakati
said while reiterating that speed was the major cause.
On the
other hand FeedMasters Raw Material Coordinator Thulani Nkambule discounted
that the driver could have been sleeping.
“He called
me before 7am and told me that he was waking up from his house beyond Ngwenya
Border on the South African side and would arrive at Matsapha shortly,”
Nkambule said. He revealed that the consignment was from Witbank and it was
intended for animal feed.
We are
hungry, don’t care about GM
Several
people who were told not to eat the maize said they had no choice as they had
no food.
“Even
though it is yellow maize and that thing (genetically modified) you are telling
me about, I am on my way to have it milled so that my children can eat,” a
woman said. She said she found the justification not to eat the maize weak.
“Which animals were going to eat this? Are we not in turn going to eat the
animals intended for this feed? If it is poison, why are they giving it to
animals then,” the woman said as she told her children to stand guard over the
several buckets of maize she had collected.
Understand
She said
she would understand if she had picked the oiled stained maize which was at the
bottom of the spilt pile; “This maize is clean and I will only clean-off some
of the visible dirt, otherwise it is good enough for me to eat,” she said
defiantly.
Food more
important than water
Several
residents from Sidvwashini who used buckets to loot maize at the accident scene
confessed to have spilt out their water in order to collect the maize.
"I can get
water anytime from the water tanks,” an unperturbed Wandile Dlamini said. He
said he had spilt out about 100litres in order to collect the maize.
Sidwashini
was yesterday on its third day of the cyclical four-day water rationing and
looters came with basins and buckets as well. The rationing in Mbabane was
effected by the Swaziland Water Services Corporation (SWSC) after Hawane Dam
dried up gradually. This past Thursday, the corporation revealed that Hawane
was at 1% and only good rains could save the situation.
Looted
maize sold at scene
Notables
like former Swaziland Women Economic Empowerment Trust (SWEET) Bank General
Managers Mduduzi Kunene were heard negotiating for an estimated 70kg
consignment which he had offered to buy for E350.
During the
loud exchange, Kunene seemed to be dissatisfied that the maize he had
successfully ‘bid’ for was being reduced in scale.
“Ukudojile
yemake lomuntfu, muningi kakhulu lombila kutsi angawutsatsa wonkhe nga E350,” a
man who seemed to have disturbed the transaction said. During the exchange,
more maize was being taken by another who seemed to have also promised to pay
for it.
When asked
what he would do about the maize, a preoccupied Kunene said he wanted to use it
as animal feed.
Disappointed
Simon Lukhele*
said he was disappointed that he couldn’t get any maize. “I was here less than
30 minutes ago and I rushed to Nkoyoyo to get maize sacks only to return and
find a nearly clean road,” he said as he went around trying to buy a few sacks
from those who waited on the boundary of the accident. A mountain of maize was
later seen at the car wash behind KaSonny while at a nearby homestead, a woman
who had clearly been in the process of washing her clothes in a basin outside
had spilled out water from her buckets and collected maize in them.
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