Suspected ZANU PF activists who allegedly murdered a Citizens for Coalition for Change (CCC) Kwekwe activist in February are reportedly threatening witnesses against testifying.
Mboneni Ncube was stabbed twice with a spear at a CCC rally held at Mbizo shopping centre and died on admission to Kwekwe Central Hospital.
The deceased’s sister, Judith Ncube, said she was kidnapped on Thursday evening by suspected ZANU PF activists who threatened to kill her if she continued demanding answers into Mboneni’s murder.
Speaking to The Standard, Judith said she now feared for her life following the abduction incident. She said:
It was around 4 pm when the incident happened. They grabbed and bundled me into their vehicle.
They took me to a ZANU PF base in Kwekwe where they threatened to make me disappear if I kept on pressing for answers to the killing of my brother.
His killers are known and all I want is closure and justice.
The incident was reported to the police and the case number is CRO/04/22.
Also speaking to The Standard, Judith’s lawyer Darlington Marange of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said:
She identified some of the culprits that were implicated in the murder, including some known ruling party bigwigs.
She has been saying that police are refusing to take the names of the perpetrators.
We are now considering visiting the police to iron this out because it falls under their duties to take the report as is and to investigate.
It appears there is some resistance but this is something that we have to iron out.
We are also considering getting a peace order against the people who have been harassing her.
She now lives in fear and we have to now take that route of a peace order to ensure her safety.
The issue of her safety is now of paramount importance outside other legal routes that we want to take.
Other people willing to testify against Ncube’s killers were being harassed constantly, Mbizo MP-elect Settlement Chikwinya claimed.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) arrested 16 ZANU PF youths for Ncube’s murder but later released 11 of them.
The late Ncube had recently remarried following the death of his first wife, with whom he had an eight-year-old daughter.