Cllr Sibanda of Habane, had an altercation with Nkanyiso
Dube where he also threatened to kill him. Sibanda and Dube, both from ZANU-PF
both ran for the council office which the former won during the 2018 elections.
A resident from the ward, who asked not to be named, said
Cllr Sibanda’s actions left mourners shocked as they did not expect the
altercation to get that serious.
“We were at a funeral wake of one of our residents on July
14 at around 7PM. Dube arrived at the funeral and in a joking manner said the
people’s councillor has arrived-referring to himself. Cllr Sibanda got offended
by the remarks and he started insulting Dube,” the resident said.
“Some members of the community advised Dube to sit a little
further from Cllr Sibanda and he adhered. After a while, Cllr Sibanda came over
to Dube and head butted him before spitting on his face. People restrained Dube
and he begrudgingly let go. He kept hurling unprintable insults at Dube,
threatening to kill him.”
The resident said this was not the first time that Cllr
Sibanda had assaulted a community member at a funeral wake.
“The other time he once hit a young man at a funeral
accusing him of singing obscene songs. Well at the time he said he was trying
to discipline the youths and an agreement was reached that he shall not lay a
hand on community members again. Clearly this has not stopped. What is worrying
is that he does this in a drunk state,” said the resident.
Contacted for comment, Dube said he felt humiliated by Cllr
SIbanda’s untoward behaviour.
“Imagine my wife and my child were there at the funeral and
I got humiliated like that. The way he insulted me is unthinkable for a
councillor. I tried to be respectful enough not to engage him into a fight but
he just wouldn’t stop. I even pleaded with him to respect the place where we
were (funeral) but he would not hear any of it. I have since reported the
matter to the police so I await the law to take its course,” said Dube.
Cllr Sibanda admitted that he did assault Dube adding that
since the election period, Dube had been on his case accusing him of rigging
the election.
“I do admit that this incident happened but I did not cause
him much harm. He is the one who provoked me. Since the time he lost the
election he has always bad-mouthed me in front of people, accusing me of buying
votes. On several occasions I have told him to accept that he lost the election
and move on but he doesn’t listen,” said Cllr Sibanda.
“The allegations that I hit a young man at a funeral are
also true but as an elder I was only reprimanding a young person for
misbehaving but for them to say I was drunk when I hit them is not true.”
Matabeleland South acting provincial police spokesperson,
Inspector Loveness Mangena, could not confirm the incident as she said she was
out of office. Cite.org.zw
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