A police officer who was on duty at Vice President Kembo Mohadi’s residence in Harare has been charged with murder after a man suspected of stealing building materials died from a severe assault.
Blessing Zadzi, aged 28, was brutally beaten with an iron bar and a hose pipe, while his legs were pinned under “concrete lifting weights.” The incident occurred near Mohadi’s residence on Enterprise Road in Glen Lorne. Zadzi was accused of stealing scaffold poles from a nearby construction site.
Police investigations into Zadzi’s death have led to the arrest of five individuals, including Sergeant Sanely Muchimba, who was guarding Vice President Mohadi’s house, and Dennis Tafirei Nyati, a soldier responsible for guarding another nearby property owned by retired Major General Nicholas Mahuhuba Dube.
The other three arrested individuals are Clever Malunga, Tinashe Gama, and Tanaka Nyabote, who were builders at the construction site where the incident occurred.
The incident unfolded when Zadzi and Emilington Machinga were accused of stealing scaffold poles from the construction site. When they returned to the scene to steal more poles the following day, Machinga was apprehended and allegedly implicated Zadzi.
The five individuals charged with murder reportedly apprehended Zadzi at Chigayo Inn at Takura Shops and took him back to the site of the theft.
There, Nyati is alleged to have assaulted Zadzi inside a house under construction using an iron bar while pinning his legs under concrete lifting weights. The assault continued with a hose pipe until Zadzi became unconscious. The other men present at the scene were said to be looking on during the assault.
Realizing that Zadzi had lost consciousness, Nyati instructed Malunga and Trymore Tafirahuchena to take him to his father’s residence, also on Enterprise Road in Glen Lorne.
However, when they arrived, Zadzi’s father refused to accept him. Malunga and Tafirahuchena then carried Zadzi to a location near a Johanne Masowe shrine nearby.
Following a report from Zadzi’s father, Highlands police responded to the scene, and Malunga led them to Zadzi’s body, which was covered with a duvet.
Source Bulawayo24
