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Murinye takes assailants to court

FARAI CHITOTOMBE

MASVINGO- A bitter Chief Murinye born Ephias Munodawafa (57) has taken seven villagers from his area to court for assaulting him last week over a burial site dispute.

According to a Police report in our possession, Murinye alleges that on June 28 he was assaulted by the seven as he was attending a funeral t Zindoga Village.

Chief Murinye who is not new to controversy started to address the family of the deceased’s relatives that the body must be buried at the cemetery, but this did not go down well with the relatives who wanted to bury the deceased at their homestead. The accused persons started to chant slogans inciting people not to listen to the Chief and began to assault him together with Police officers.

According to sources, the deceased is believed to have had some previous wrangles with Chief Murinye which could have prompted the relatives to assault him after being infuriated by his insistence to change the burial place.

The four relatives of the deceased who were arrested on the same day of the alleged assault were Amen Munyimo 46 years from village 33B under Chief Mugabe, Christopher Maromo 55 years old from ZESCOM Masvingo, Moses Mugabe 46 years of age from ZESCOM Masvingo and interestingly a 73 year old lady Janifa Madindi from Muza Village in Chief Mugabe’ss area.

They were all released on ZW$10 000 bail each and remanded to July 31 for trial.

“Following the release of these four on bail, Chief Murinye went on to file another report against three more individuals yesterday Muzenda Muzenda, Charles Ngoma and Gilbert Musiiwa who were arrested and released on free bail today and they are to appear in court on the 4th of August 2023,” said accused’s legal representatives, Pauline Chimwanda.

In defense of her clients, Advocate Chimwanda said, “the office of a Chief is a sacred office. Assaulting a chief is something which is unheard of. We do not encourage people to take matters into their hands.

 “But when things like this happen people should look into the issue with an open mind to address the root cause. It is a clear sign that people are tired and bitter of something.

“They are alleging that they are tired of the Chief’s “arbitrary” rule. This is an issue that has to be looked into. People should not take the law into their own hands they should seek redress on the appropriate forums. We encourage people to respect people in authority. People in authority should also respect their subjects. That is all I can say.”

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