SEVEN months after she was reportedly forced by police officers to sit on an acidic substance, burning her backside in the process, 30-year-old Victoria Falls resident Zibusiso Moyo is still battling for her life and says she has lost hope of completely healing as the wound has remained septic.
By Nokuthaba Dlamini
Moyo was allegedly picked up from the streets sometime in June this year and tortured by police officers who accused her of loitering for purposes of prostitution.
She claimed was made to sit on a caustic soda-covered van surface where she suffered severe burns on her backside and private parts, resulting in a miscarriage and haemorrhage that medical doctors are reportedly failing to stop. Moyo said her gaping wounds had not responded well to treatment and she had been advised to seek specialist treatment in South Africa, which she said was beyond her means.
“The doctors told me to stop taking the antibiotics because they are no longer working on me,” she said when Southern Eye visited her at home.
“My skin is always reacting and the rash becomes itchy whenever I am exposed to the sun or when I take medication. “I wish God could take away this pain from me by letting me die because I am now like a moving grave.”
Victoria Falls district medical officer Wisdom Kurauone, in a referral letter for Moyo, said the chemical was still in her system and her condition was deteriorating. He said she needed urgent specialist treatment, possibly in South Africa. Moyo, a mother of one, can hardly walk and has difficulties sitting. She has drastically lost weight. She also lost her job in South Africa.
She said she felt hurt because the police officers who forced her to sit on the caustic soda had not been charged. Officer Commanding Victoria Falls district Chief Superintendent Jairos Chiwona refused to be drawn into the matter, arguing that the police had no hand in her injury and that the matter was before the courts.
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Police have not revealed where the caustic soda came from, but sources say that they picked it up along Kazungula Road after it was allegedly dumped by suspected poachers.
Meanwhile, Moyo who was being tried at the Victoria Falls Magistrates’ Court for allegedly assaulting and insulting the police officers who forced her to sit on the acidic substance, was yesterday acquitted on both counts due to lack of evidence.
She was represented by human rights lawyer Thulani Nkala.
