BY Richard Muponde
A SOLDIER based in Hwange on Wednesday reportedly went berserk after an argument with imbibers and indiscriminately fired into the crowd at Chisuma shopping centre, killing two men.
The incident happened when the soldier, whose name could not be immediately verified, was at the shopping centre drinking beer.
Reports are that he later picked an argument with the two deceased persons — Morgen Sibanda, a tour guide with Wild Horizons, and his colleague Dumisani Mpofu — both from Chisuma 2 village and fatally shot them.
Mpofu died instantly, while Sibanda died as he waited to be ferried to Victioria Falls District Hospital.
Efforts to get a comment from police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner, Paul Nyathi were fruitless.
“Call me at 2:30pm, I am actually working on the issue. I am now in the office,” Nyathi said shortly after lunch before going mute.
Chisuma councillor Givemeagain Moyo yesterday said the community had since lost confidence in government’s ability to protect them as the soldiers had been terrorising villagers during the lockdown period.
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“We are in great fear as a community,” Moyo said.
“We have lost confidence in government as these people were deployed to patrol the river, but they are now killing villagers at the shopping centre.”
Soldiers have been accused of extra-judicial killings in the country and are said to be responsible for six deaths that occurred on August 1, 2018 and 18 during the January 14-16, 2019 protests against fuel price hike.
