Batswana arrested for murder in Zimbabwe
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday April 13, 2022 11:30
The murder incident followed the recovery of their alleged stolen 11 donkeys in John West village in Zimbabwe on April 1 suspected to have been stolen by the deceased, Justice Ncube and other Zimbabweans.
As of Friday, the Botswana police had not been contacted about the issue. Reached for an interview, officer commanding, District No. 10, assistant police commissioner, Bonosi Molapisi told The Monitor that they have not been contacted by their Zimbabwean counterparts about the alleged arrests.
Molapisi admitted to having read a Zimbabwean media report of some Batswana reported to have been arrested and being investigated for murder in Zimbabwe but have not yet received any official report from their Zimbabwean counterparts.
“I do not know if it’s true or not but we have good bilateral relations hence (we are) hopeful that (the) Zimbabwean police will soon contact and notify us if indeed such (an) incident occurred,” Molapisi said.
It is alleged that the said Batswana had entered Zimbabwe through an ungazetted point of entry tracking their stolen donkeys and later teamed up with 34 Guyu villagers in Zimbabwe and undertook a door-to-door operation on stock theft suspects.
The gang allegedly ended up at John West village where they managed to recover the stolen donkeys but they later clashed with villagers who repossessed the stolen donkeys.
However, it is reported that the gang managed to arrest one Godwill Ndlovu and Justice Ncube on allegations of stock theft after they had recovered the 11 donkeys. They allegedly took the duo (Ndlovu and Ncube) whom they assaulted with shamboks and wooden sticks in Guyu, which resulted in the death of Ncube.
They allegedly handcuffed the duo, who took them to five other suspects’ residences where on arrival they broke windows and doors at several homesteads before demolishing R25,400 (P20,107) worth of property. The said property included refrigerators, sofas, cupboards, beds, and a kitchen unit.
Furthermore, in the process cash amounting to R9,900 (P7,837) and a mobicell cellphone were reportedly stolen from the complainants.
Meanwhile, Molapisi said cross-border stock theft remains a concern in the Bobirwa area, giving villagers living along the borderline a headache. He, however, stated of late cases have significantly dropped as compared to last year and previous years.
Molapisi said thieves used to go to the extent of stealing livestock at night from kraals and trekking them across the border. He, however, stated that through their good bilateral relations with Zimbabwean police, cross border stock theft cases have drastically dropped.
Asked about the common targeted domestic animals, Molapisi said they usually receive reports of stolen goats, sheep, cattle and donkeys among others. Mid-last year, Botswana put in place a commission of inquiry into livestock theft along the Zimbabwe-Botswana border.