Four villagers from the Boroma resettlement area in Masvingo Central have been arrested for assaulting Chief Murinye and three police officers.
The villagers, who are facing public violence charges, teamed up with a mob on Wednesday that assaulted their traditional leader and the three cops.
The four have been identified as Amen Munyimo (46), Moses Mugabe (42), Jenniffer Mande (70) and Christopher Maromo (55).
Chief Murinye (born Ephias Munodawafa) was beaten up after he blocked the villagers from burying a relative at a place considered sacred.
He sustained body bruises and a swollen eye during the attack.
Three police officers stationed at Nemamwa Police Station, who had accompanied the chief in a bid to stop the burial at Village 33B, were also hurt.
ZRP spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi on Friday confirmed the arrests to The Herald, saying investigations were ongoing to account for more suspects. He said:
We don’t expect people to beat up a chief and police officers because this is tantamount to putting themselves above the law.
This is not acceptable and we always encourage people to resort to dialogue whenever there is a misunderstanding.
How will people co-exist in the future if people beat up each other?
It is alleged that on Wednesday, Chief Murinye heard that villagers were preparing to bury the late Jairos Zindoga at an undesignated place at a homestead in Village 33B in his area.
This was not allowed according to the culture and tradition of the area.
The traditional leader then went to report at Nemamwa Police Station from where he was accompanied by three police officers to stop the burial.
On arrival, Chief Murinye told the mourners to stop the burial and instead use the community cemetery.
This angered the villagers who started assaulting the chief and the police officers.
The arrests were only made after reinforcements were called from Nemamwa.
Source Pindula News
