One dead in Plumtree terror

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UNKNOWN assailants shot and killed a woman in yet to be established circumstances at Thanda One village in the Mazaligwe area under Chief Masendu in Bulilima on Tuesday night.

UNKNOWN assailants shot and killed a woman in yet to be established circumstances at Thanda One village in the Mazaligwe area under Chief Masendu in Bulilima on Tuesday night.

BENSON DUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT

A villager Yengiwe Dube told Southern Eye yesterday that the assailants parked their car at a distance and proceeded to Baleni Sola’s homestead where they set alight two huts.

The assailants shot at one of the huts with seven people inside killing Gugulethu Sola on the spot and injuring Thokozile in the process.

Gugulethu was shot five times and died while Thokozile was injured after being shot in the arm and chest.

She was taken to Masendu Hospital and transferred to Plumtree Hospital while Gugulethu’s body was taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for an autopsy on Wednesday.

“l saw children running to my homestead saying their grandmother was following behind. Their grandmother appeared running and falling and I screamed, but she stopped me saying l would be shot,” Dube said.

“That is when she told me that she had been shot in the arm and chest. She said her niece Gugulethu had been shot dead.

“She said three people parked their car at a distance and then entered her homestead where they sprinkled petrol on the huts’ thatched roofs and set them ablaze. They then went to the hut and opened fire killing Gugulethu and injuring my sister in the arm and chest,” Dube said.

Dube said the assailants then headed to Nto Ndebele’s homestead where they locked him and his wife in their bedroom hut, doused it with petrol and set it ablaze.

However, Ndebele and his wife managed to break down the door and escape with some burns.

Vincent Dube, councillor for Ward 7 in Bulilima, confirmed the shooting and said a one-year-old baby was badly burnt by the fire.

Chief Masendu also confirmed the shooting and said the entire community was in shock over what transpired and they were now living in fear.

“The entire community is in a state of shock and people are living in fear as to who will be next as the assailants went on to burn some huts in homesteads of people related to Baleni and Ndebele in one of the villages in Dombodema,” Chief Masendu said.

Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele was not answering his mobile phone when Southern Eye contacted him for comment.