Online Reporter
Mthokozisi Ncube
A 34-YEAR-OLD man died after allegedly being brutally tortured by a mob accusing him of theft in Bulawayo’s Killarney Squatter Camp.
Shaidu Mbandulila, allegedly succumbed to injuries after he and another man were accused of stealing at Musimboti Stands in Killarney on 9 May at around 2pm.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the incident.
The suspects force-marched the two victims to a tuck-shop belonging to one of the accused before unleashing a vicious assault.
They used hammers, a mill belt, knobkerries and electric cables to beat the pair all over their bodies. Burning plastic was also dropped onto the victims’ buttocks before they were ordered to leave.
The injured men were later abandoned nearby.
The following morning, two juvenile girls playing in a nearby maize field stumbled upon Mbandulila’s lifeless body lying face-up with visible injuries.
They alerted a woman in the area, who informed other residents before police were called.
Insp Msebele said the deceased had multiple injuries, including burn marks on the buttocks, a cut above the right hip and an open wound on the right shoulder.
One suspect has since been arrested following a tip-off at MacDonald Bricks along Gwanda Road, while other suspects remain on the run.
Inspector Msebele strongly condemned mob violence, warning that even where theft is suspected, communities must never take the law into their own hands but should report cases to police and allow justice to take its course.
