Face Of Zimbabwean Man Deformed By Botswana Police Looks Different Now
The face of a Zimbabwean man that had deformed after being severely assaulted by Botswana police in 2015 now looks normal.
Tinashe Bande’s face was so severely deformed that he was repeatedly turned back at the Ramokgwebana border gate when he tried to cross into Zimbabwe.
Immigration officers could not believe it was him on the passport. Bande, a 39-year-old from Gweru said some people were now afraid of him because of his facial appearance. He said back then:
_Some people, especially children, run away when they encounter me in the street while others laugh at me._
His wife divorced him on grounds that she could not live with a “cripple.”
Bande went back to Maun where he had been assaulted, stayed there as an illegal immigrant and in the process, became a sitting target for periodic police operations to round up and deport illegal immigrants.
Two years after the beating, Bande was referred to Bokamoso Private Hospital in Gaborone for a surgical operation that cost P13 000 (money he didn’t have) to remove the orbit tumour in his eye.
He ditched Western Medicine for traditional medicine from Zimbabwe which he applied directly into the eye and six years later, he is now able to clear immigration at any border gate with absolutely no hassle.
The protrusion retracted, the eye cleared up and today he believes that he is fully healed. See the most recent photo Tinashe sent to Pindula News.
Officially, Bande was an illegal immigrant because his passport expired on December 23, 2012, but his case immunised him against detention and deportation.
More: Pindula News; Sunday Standard
