Makorokoza

Battles claim yet another victim

panner, Keelson Mpofu of Mbizo, was brutally killed when he was sliced with machetes in a fight over a girlfriend.

Mpofu’s disfigured body was discovered about 200 metres from the shopping centre lying in a pool of blood and remained there uncovered for the better part of Wednesday morning as police were yet to attend to the scene.

Acting Midlands police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende confirmed the murder case but could not give finer details on the matter.

“We are still looking for the details. We will furnish you once the responsible station gives us information,” she said.

However, sources alleged that Mpofu had an argument with an unknown patron while drinking beer at a local bar. The argument later degenerated into a fistfight.

“What happened is that the two men had an argument over a woman and they dragged each other out of the bar. The next morning, one of the men’s body was found about 200m from the bar with deep cuts on the head and abdomen suggesting that he was attacked by people using machetes,” said a source.

Recently, Ndabezihle Nkiwane, a gold panner, was attacked and killed by Melody Ncube, a fellow gold panner at Amaveni with a machete before the suspect ran away.

Ncube later committed suicide in Redcliff after killing yet another person in Kadoma.

In a related incident, a bully Washington Dick was stabbed 19 times in broad daylight at Kwekwe’s CBD by another panner only identified as Likwa. The culprit is still on the run. A vendor at Amaveni shopping centre, Mrs Violet Muchaka said people were no longer safe as at times the fights go for over an hour without the police intervening although the station is a stone’s throw away from the shopping centre.

“We now fear for our lives. It looks like the police are always found wanting when these conflicts erupt. The police are slow to react and our lives are now in danger. What worries us most is that the perpetrators walk around with machetes and they are not arrested by the police because they say machetes are not in the category of arms. At one point a fight between two syndicates went on for over an hour and we had to seek refuge in garages and flea markets. No one was arrested but a lot of people were hurt,” she said.