Family blasts heartless social media ‘photographers’

THE family of the 48-year-old Marange man, James Musiwacho, who was on Sunday trampled to death by elephants, has opened up on facts surrounding the death of their loved one and castigated people who first attended the scene and took pictures before circulating them on social media.

James’ father, who is also called Mr James Musiwacho, dismissed claims which did the rounds on social media claiming that his son was drunk when the tragic incident happened.

The deceased, who was a teacher at St Andrew’s Mweya Mutsvene High School in Marange, was taking pictures of the elephants before the irate giants charged at him. His lower part of the body was badly damaged.

“James had come home for the weekend and he was preparing to go back to St Andrews, which is about 10km away. His wife was preparing breakfast and he was doing some gardening. It was around 8am when it was learnt that there were elephants that had been spotted around the area. And we found it very strange that these wild animals had visited our area.

“He went to see the elephants together with other villagers. He attempted to take a picture before one of them charged at him. He was trampled upon and died on the spot. It was the first time we saw elephants here. Our nephew was one of the first people who attended the scene,” he said.

He described the deceased as a disciplined person who was a responsible and loving family man, teacher and mechanic.

“We denounce some people who attended the scene and took pictures before circulating them on social media. Those who did that accompanied the pictures with unfounded claims that my son was drunk. Shockingly some attributed it to politics. It’s very disheartening,” he added. Scores of mourners gathered on Wednesday in Bambazonke where he was laid to rest.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) public relations manager, Tinashe Farawo said their tracking team revealed that the herd of six elephants that caused havoc in Marange might have gone back to Save Conservancy.

“There is an overpopulation of elephants in Save conservancy where the animals are escaping from and they could soon be transferred to other parks. The animals were probably confused after encountering villagers in Marange which led them to become violent,” he said.