Man (43) in court for rape
A 43-YEAR-OLD man from Mangwe has appeared in court for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl who had turned down his love proposal after he had bought her $1 airtime and installed WhatsApp on her mobile phone.
Buhe Sibanda of Mashongwana North Village under Chief Tshitshi in Mphoengs, Matabeleland South appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza facing a charge of rape last week. He was remanded in custody to Tuesday for trail.
For the State, Mr Tinashe Dzipe told the court that on 4 June, Sibanda proposed love to the girl but she declined.
On 9 June he sent her $1 airtime so that she could recharge her phone and download WhatsApp. When she failed to download the application, Sibanda then came and installed the application for her.
At around 9pm on the same day, the girl went to bed with her boyfriend. At around 10pm Sibanda came and knocked at the door while they were asleep. However, the girl refused to let him enter saying that her boyfriend was around.
Sibanda then forcibly entered the room and threatened to assault the complainant’s boyfriend and chased him away.
He then demanded sex from the girl and threatened to assault her with a sjambok if she screamed.
Sibanda then raped the complainant once and left. On 26 June, Sibanda wrote a letter to the juvenile who showed her mother before telling her she was raped.
A report was made to the police leading to the arrest of Sibanda. A medical report can be produced as evidence. FORMER Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) soldier Moffat Hadebe has said he wishes his body be used for biology learning purposes once he dies.
Narrating his contribution to the armed struggle at Maphisa in Matabeleland South recently, Cde Hadebe who is now 80 years old claimed the first gun to be fired against the white regime was at Zidube Ranch in Maphisa around September 23 in 1964 where he and other five Zipra soldiers were commanded to kill then Bulawayo Chief Magistrate, Mr Francis Farewell Roberts. There have been various narratives regarding the first gun fire for the Second Umvukela/Chimurenga.
“We came in straight from Zambia to Zimbabwe and our mission was to kill Bulawayo Chief Magistrate Mr Francis Farewell Roberts who was signing people into detention. We were the first group to come in with guns from training from the Zipra side. There were six of us. It was Kay Nkala, Moffat Hadebe, Elliot Ngwabi, Rhodes Malaba, Roger Machimini Ncube and Israel Maduna,” said Cde Hadebe.
He added that the mission failed because they were ill informed by their spies.
“When we planned our attack we were never told that there were dogs where the magistrate was. This is because the spies would come in the morning and afternoon when the dogs were not in the farm and our intelligence never took notice of them. So we came in the evening and we surrounded the house. I was by the gate while Ngwabi was near the water tank while Kay Nkala was standing on the east of the ranch. Once Mrs Robertson came out of the house we opened fire, I was using a pistol,” he said. Mrs Robertson ran into his house while letting her four dogs loose.
“Those dogs were very big and we started focusing on shooting the dogs, we killed three of them,” said Cde Hadebe, who added that they failed to kill Mr Roberts and his family who had gone back into the house.
Cde Hadebe, Ngwabi and Nkala were later captured by the police in January 1965 in one of the Hills in Kezi where they were hiding and taken to Khami Prison. In prison they started planning their grand escape with the help of black guards.
“We managed to cut the iron sheets. Since I was the tallest, I had to go last while everyone had to climb on top of me and then they pulled me by the hands,” Cde Hadebe said.
The three comrades managed to escape from prison together with another comrade, Clark Mpofu who they had met in prison.
“There were only four of us. There was Moffat