Chronicle Editor
Sharon Buwerimwe, Chronicle Reporter
A FAMILY from Nkayi has been forced to sleep in the bush after their employer chased them away from Umguza Farm, allegedly at a gunpoint.
Mr Davison Masina employed Mr Qhubani Moyo and his wife at his farm in Umguza district on December 15 last year.
Mr Masina allegedly promised to pay the couple Z$7 a day but failed to deliver.
Mr Moyo on Monday told the Chronicle his employer assaulted him with a knobkerrie on Sunday when he told him he was quitting his job.
Speaking from a bushy area along the Bulawayo- Victoria Falls Road where the family was scratching leftover food from a pot, Mr Moyo said after the assault, Mr Masina drew a gun and ordered him and his family off his property.
“We started working for Masina on December 15 and had agreed that he will pay us $7 every day. However, we spent our Christmas hungry as he failed to pay us in full. We couldn’t even buy mealie meal to feed our three children. So, I went to him to complain. He grabbed a knobkerrie and chased us away. He threatened to shoot us and we had to flee for our lives,” he said.
However, Mr Masina denied chasing the family away.
“I didn’t chase them, they wanted to leave without my consent. I saw a car parked across the road and they were busy loading their property inside the vehicle and I asked them where they were going. About the shooting part, I didn’t threaten to kill them. I don’t know what they are talking about, you can even ask my neighbour Mr Khuphe,” he said.
“These people are lying and I have been asked to come to court tomorrow on this matter.”
The matter has not yet gone to court. – @sharonbuwe
Online Reporter