The Chronicle

GWELO, Wednesday, September 28,1966 — Two Africans who are charged with the murder of another — the allegation is that one of them did the killing and the other helped to dispose of the body , which was thrown down a mine shaft — gave evidence at the High Court in Gwelo today.

Mbaluko told the court it was he who had done the killing by fighting with Takawira Goliath and striking him three blows on the head with a knobkerrie. He said that he had disposed of the body in the manner alleged and that his fellow accused, his cousin Ziyada Mareza, had had nothing to do with it. Mareza denied complicity in the alleged murder. Mbaluko said in evidence that he was employed by the Mines Department at Python Mine, Silobela, and shared a hut there with the deceased.

After work on April 4 he stayed in the hut and the deceased went to a beer drink. “When he returned he entered the quarters and started swearing at me, and I picked up a knobkerrie and we started a fight. It was after that the deceased died, and I carried him and threw him in a mine shaft.

When I carried the body I was alone”, he said. Mbaluko told the prosecutor Adv Julian Colegrave, that both he and fellow accused were Nyasas and that the deceased had called him “a - fool from Nyasa”. In reply to the question: “Did you intend to kill him? “he said” Do you not know that God decrees things. This was decreed by God and you should term it an accident. I did not intend to kill him”. The case was adjourned until tomorrow .Much of yesterday’s and today’s hearing was taken up with a “trial within a trial”. Both accused challenged alleged statements which amounted to admissions on the grounds that they had been assaulted.