Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
TRADITIONAL leaders have called for heavy police presence at drinking spots as they have become crime scenes for a number of murder cases.
Some of the cases occur at bottle stores that will be operating outside stipulated hours.
In an incident which occurred on Thursday last week, a man was drinking beer at Makhulela Business Centre at around 3AM with his friend when they had a misunderstanding.
The accused, Silvester Ngwenya confronted the now deceased, Nkosilathi Nleya on why he had assaulted his cousin.
Nleya pulled out an okapi knife from his trousers’ pocket and stabbed Ngwenya once on the right side of the stomach. Ngwenya retaliated and punched the now deceased once on the forehead. He further struck the now deceased several times all over the body leading to his death.
In another recent incident, five men fatally assaulted a man from a neighbouring village for drinking at a bottle store which is within their village.
The gang found Praisemore Moyo from Fumugwe Village drinking beer at Malutha Bottle Store in Manama Business Centre in Gwanda at around 11PM and demanded to know why he was not drinking from his own village. They ganged up on Moyo and assaulted him leading to his death.
In another incident, a Maphisa man fatally stabbed his neighbour on the chest in a dispute over an undisclosed issue which emanated while they were drinking.
The pair was drinking at Mathale Business Centre in Maphisa when they had a misunderstanding.
Chief Madlambuzi in Bulilima District said a number of murder cases have been recorded which have emanated from drinking spots.
“Drinking spots such as bottle stores and bars have resulted in a number of murder cases. People go to drink in these areas and then misunderstandings arise which turn into fights and then some result in the loss of life. There is need for heavy police presence in such areas so that patrons can be monitored and any fights can be handled as early as possible,” he said.
“Some of the bottle stores operate beyond the stipulated hours. You can find some of them still open in the wee hours of the morning and one can’t help but ask themselves where the police would be when such things happen. In some places these bottle stores remain open throughout the night on a daily basis. If there is control over such places then some of these incidences can be averted.”
He said some patrons leave drinking spots in the early hours of the morning and proceed to rob people’s homesteads or victimise people.
Headman Matenga from Mangwe District said some of the bars and bottle stores were entertaining under-age customers and youngsters were being drawn into crime. He said there was need for police to conduct patrols to ensure that bars and bottle stores did not break the law during their operations.
Headman Matenga said some homesteads hold parties where they allow youngsters to drink. He urged villagers to report such places so that the organisers could be caught in the act and brought to book.
Headman Masendu bemoaned the manner in which people were no longer valuing life. He said murder cases continued to rise which indicated that the society was losing its morals.
“The rate at which we are recording murder cases nowadays is alarming. People don’t value life anymore; our people are slowly losing their morals. When people have a misunderstanding, it seems like the easiest solution is to pick a weapon and attack the other person. Some of these attacks result in loss of life or they leave people seriously injured. The police have to do something about these people who move around public areas carrying weapons such as knives or axes,” he said.
— @DubeMatutu
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