Online Reporter
Arron Nyamayaro
LEO Matibe is an ex-cop and has been in jail for 16 years now and, until recently, he was a death row prisoner who had been sentenced to death for his part in the murder of a South African man in Bulawayo in 2007.
The killing of Martinus Jacobus Oosthuyse, who was shot in the head in his car, was such a horrible act that a High Court judge described it as a “cold-blooded, beastly murder, committed without any conscience,” by attackers who “went on to dump the body.” Matibe will not be hanged after the law was changed and the death sentence was abolished.
In his first interview since he was convicted for his part in the murder of Martinus Jacobus Oosthuyse, who was 69 at the time of his death, Matibe says he is now a reformed man who knows that crime does not pay.
He says he is a different man from the one who made headlines when Oosthuyse was killed in Bulawayo while on his way to Zambia where he worked in Livingstone.
Matibe pleaded not guilty to the charge but the High Court found that together with his accomplice, Collin Tsikidze, the former policeman was guilty of the murder.
The court found that Matibe knew that Tsikidze was armed and even ordered him to “finish him off so that we go.”
On September 26, 2007, shortly after midnight, Oosthuye, who was working in Livingstone, parked his Nissan Sentra, which had South Africa registration plates, at Pines Brothers Supermarket along 8th Avenue in Bulawayo.
He decided to take a nap.
Matibe, Tsikidze and Leonard Dube awakened him and produced a police identity card and advised Oosthuyse that he was under arrest for wrongful parking. They ordered him to drive to the police station to pay a fine.
Instead of directing him to Bulawayo Central Police station, they directed him to the corner of Jason Moyo Street and 2nd Avenue, where they stopped him in the middle of the road.Tsikidze produced a pistol and Dube disembarked from the vehicle and ran away.
Tsikidze shot Oosthuyse in the head and pulled his body to the passenger’s seat, got behind the steering wheel and the deceased’s car to Bedminton Farm in Nyamandlovu where they dumped his body. They took his car, cellphone and R700.
On 28 November 2007, the remains of Oosthuyse were recovered from the farm, together with his passport and a wrist watch.
According to the post-mortem report, the cause of death could not be ascertained because only skeletal human remains comprising a fragmented skull, 13 spinal bones, left tibia, right tibia and both femurs were recovered.
On November 3 that year, Matibe was arrested during the course of a robbery at Mership House along Main Street, resulting in the recovery of a BSAP 170 CZ pistol, which was later linked to the death of Oosthuyse.
Matibe is now 39 and he told H-Metro of his relief when he was removed from death row and ordered to serve life imprisonment.
He spoke to H-Metro at Chikurubi Maximum Prison yesterday during a Continental Chess Championship Online Tournament for inmates.
He said playing chess and reading the Bible in the years he has been behind bars has changed him.
“I regret committing murder,” he said. When authorities advised him that he would be spared from the hangman’s noose, he said everything changed for him.
“That alone gave me a big relief and hope that one day I will tell my story, preach peace to the world and show the importance of life.
“When I was convicted, I had no idea when I would meet my fate (being hanged) as that information is never shared with anyone.
“Any footsteps shuffling in the prison corridor would bring shivers to my body assuming that the sun had set for me. “I escaped the gallows, I found comfort in reading the word of life and meditating daily.
“Human life is precious, killing people is a direct attack on the giver of life, God. If I would find more grace to be given another chance outside the prison cells, I will have a message to share. Human life is different from animals, reptiles and birds, it is important, I regret my moment of madness.
“Money is not that important for someone to die for it.”
Part of Matibe’s rehabilitation programme has come through playing chess. “Playing chess and reading the Bible is what I do every day while other inmates taste temporary freedom by meeting their communities.
“Today, I feel honoured as the rehabilitation officers granted me permission to see the world, while inside the prison cells, through this online chess tournament. This is part of my healing time, deliverance session and life-giving time.”
Eighteen years ago, Matibe took a life.His profession, as an ex-cop, weighed against him in court.
“As a policeman, you had ample time to report the murder and you went to Harare for three weeks after the offence, but still you did not report it,” said Justice Cheda.
Mathew Masinge