12 October 2007

MASVINGO, October 11, 2007 - The case in which finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi’s wife was accused of complicity in the fatal assault of her former farm worker has taken a new twist with the police dropping the charges against all the murder suspects. The case has been closed as the result, apparently, of an out-of-court deal allegedly brokered by vice president Joseph Msika.

The minister’s wife Tecla Perina Mumbengegwi had been linked to a murder case in which she allegedly teamed up with a group of nine soldiers and fatally assaulted Fibion Mafukidze (60) a former farm worker at Irvins Farm. The deceased was accused of stealing the minister’s farm equipment. Irvins Farm belongs to the Mumbengegwi family. They moved onto the farm after evicting the former owner, a commercial farmer identified only as a Mr Fraser, at the height of the farms invasions.

The Mafukidze family had refused to bury the body of the deceased while demanding compensation from the Mumbengegwi family. But on Sunday they buried the body following the intervention of Vice President Joseph Msika. Msika who traveled to Masvingo province over the weekend attended the burial of Mafukidze in his village near Mpandawana Growth Point on Sunday. It emerged yesterday that the police had since dropped charges against the suspects following an out-of-court deal which was facilitated by Msika and accepted by both families.

Although Msika could not be reached yesterday to comment on his unprecedented treatment of an alleged murder case the police in Masvingo confirmed the development and said they had since dropped the charges against the minister’s wife and the nine soldiers. The officer commanding Masvingo province, Assistant Commissioner Charles Makono said: "We are no longer investigating that case since the feuding families managed to reach an agreement over the weekend.

"Vice President Msika managed to bring the two parties to a negotiating table. The meeting was also attended by traditional leaders and an agreement was reached. "The vice president also attended the burial ceremony over the weekend," said Makono. While details of the deal were not immediately available sources said the Mumbengegwi family had agreed to pay compensation to the Mafukidze family. The source also revealed that no postmortem was conducted on Mafukidze’s body

"The body of Mafukidze was buried without a postmortem being conducted because it was felt that the results would further complicate issues," said a highly placed source. The Mafukidze family initially demanded compensation in the form of 100 cattle and $10 billion in cash before they could bury the body of their deceased relative. The soldiers linked to the murder case have since been released from police custody and are back at their workplace at 42 Infantry Battalion headquarters in Masvingo. One of the nine soldiers allegedly committed suicide while in police custody.

Details of the case were that Tecla Mumbengegwi reported a theft on Irvins Farm to the police in Gutu. Unhappy that police investigations were slow she reported the case to soldiers based at 42 Infantry Battalion. She allegedly teamed up with nine soldiers and visited Mafukidze’s home where they fatally assaulted him after accusing him of stealing the missing equipment.

As investigations into the murder case widened it emerged that police commissioner Augustine Chihuri was allegedly attempting to block the prosecution of Mumbengegwi. Chihuri however denied the allegations saying he was not involved in any way.- The Zimbabwe Times.

Nehanda Radio: Zimbabwe's first 24 hour internet radio news channel.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.nehandaradio.com