adminon Tuesday afternoon suffered a raptured eardrum in his left ear and now suffers severe headaches and is hard of hearing.
In an interview yesterday, a visibly wincing Chibaya said the grace of God saved him from a worse fate as the attackers were baying for his blood.
Chibaya, who was taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital on Tuesday after the brutal attack, where he was treated for internal injuries sustained, said he was waiting to be operated on his left ear on November 16.
“The Doctors at Parirenyatwa hospital told me that my left eardrum had been damaged.
“I was treated and told to come back on November 16 to see a specialist,” he said.
A member of the apostolic church Chibaya claims he is footing the medical bills.
A founding member of the popular gospel group, Chibaya believes the 10 MDC-T youths wanted him dead.
“They were shouting who are you? Can you stop piracy? Uraraya (kill him). I could hear people passing by as they attacked me ‘saying please run away these people will kill you.’ They did not see my colleague Mazorodze Gadzikwa and I am sure they could have attacked him as well,” he said.
The father of three, Chibaya, who lives in Chegutu, said only members of the apostolic church groups inquired on his condition yesterday.
He was disappointed that most of the musicians whose music was being pirated never bothered to find out what happened.
Chibaya said his ordeal began as he was walking along Nelson Mandela Avenue with Gadzikwa when they came across vendors selling some pirated CDs.
He discovered that among the CDs were some from his group Chiedza Chavatendi and others from Vabati VaJehovha.
Chibaya asked the vendors why they were selling the CDs and whether they were aware that they were committing crime.
“They demanded to know who I was and that even politicians could not do anything about it.
“They started pulling and pushing and about 10 of them punched and kicked me.
“They were aiming at my nose, ears, eyes and the head. I fell down twice during the attack and I lost my shoes.
“They were also hitting me in the head with frozen bottled water. I then broke loose and ran towards Angwa Street with them in hot pursuit,” he said.
After reporting his case at the First Street police post, three policemen accompanied him to the scene to investigate the matter.
He said upon seeing the policemen, the youths disappeared into Harvest House, but emerged after realising that the officers were taking away the pirated CDs.
About eight of them, with the support of some taxi drivers who park near OK First Street, started attacking the three policemen.
“I saw one of them breaking a concrete block that produced some pieces they used to attack the three policemen.
“Their uniforms were torn and I ran back to the post to report that their colleagues were under attack.
“I was disappointed that some policemen there thought I was crazy and ordered me to sit down.
“They asked why I was coming back after they had given me some people to assist me. Within some seconds, their colleagues arrived in torn shirts and had some bruises,” he said.
The officers at the post then called for reinforcement that arrived swiftly, but the skirmishes continued as the youths and policemen were involved in running battles for over an hour.
Chibaya thanked Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu for giving him morale support.
Meanwhile six suspects, among them two vendors and an MDC-T security official arrested in connection with the violence that erupted in central Harare, were yesterday still in police custody assisting with investigations.
Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau, yesterday said the situation was calm in and around the city although police maintained presence near the trouble spots.
“The three are expected to appear in court soon.
“It was, however, quiet in the city and no disturbances were witnessed,” he said.
Insp Sabau said: “There is nothing unusual about the deployments. Its normal and we always carry out these deployments now and again.”
Online Reporter