Dead man’s family demands 30 beasts as compensation

Believed Shumba died on 28 January after he was allegedly stabbed with a knife by a fellow imbiber, Tatenda Tshuma, following a beer brawl at Bvumbura Business Centre under Chief Mahlebadza.
Shumba’s brother, Mr Pardon Shumba, is reportedly still battling for life at Gwanda Provincial Hospital after he was also stabbed in the abdomen by the same suspect, Tshuma.
Sources told Chronicle yesterday that Shumba’s relatives collected his body at Masase Hospital and went on to dump the body at the homestead of Tshuma’s relatives.
Shumba’s family demanded 30 beasts from Tshuma’s relatives as compensation before they could bury him.
Police sources said Shumba’s body spent the whole of last week at the Tshuma homestead following an impasse between the two families.
“He was only laid to rest at the weekend after relatives of Tatenda Tshuma made some contributions and paid part of the required number of beasts. The police had also been called in to assist in solving the impasse between the two families,” said the source.
The officer commanding police Zvishavane and Mberengwa districts, Superintendent Robert Mugazambi, confirmed the incident.
He also confirmed that the police intervened to end the impasse.
“Believed Shumba was only laid to rest at the weekend after relatives of the suspect, Tshuma, paid part of the beasts that the deceased’s relatives demanded. This was after the police had intervened,” said Supt Mugazambi.
A relative of the Shumba family who spoke to Chronicle threatened to exhume Believed Shumba’s body in the event that the Tshuma family failed to clear the balance.
“When we resolved to bury our son as the Shumba family, the Tshuma family had agreed to clear the remaining number of beasts. We want 30 beasts and they have since given us a few. Failure to give us the remaining animals will result in us exhuming the body of our son and we will take it to the Tshuma homestead,” said a relative who declined to be named.
The relative also refused to confirm the number of beasts, which have been paid so far.
Sources, however, said the Shumba family received six beasts.
“What I can only confirm is that we want 30 beasts from the Tshuma family for the crime committed by their son and they have paid something so far,” said the relative.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Mugazambi refuted reports that the now deceased’s brother, Pardon, died on admission to Gwanda Provincial Hospital.
There have been reports that Mr Pardon Shumba, who was stabbed twice on the back and once in the abdomen during the same beer brawl, had died.
“We have not received such a report. There is no truth in this. Our investigations into the matter are still in progress,” he said.