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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
A cross-dressing man, Samukeliso Sithole, 33, who masqueraded as a woman and competed in regional and international athletics events was on Wednesday night killed by his brother at their family home in Sizinda.

Sithole, born Mduduzi Sibanda, died soon after admission to Mpilo Central Hospital at about 8PM after he was stabbed on the collar bone with a screwdriver by his brother Kelvin Sibanda, who is on the run.

Sithole was killed in what is thought to have been a dispute over a wardrobe. For years, the man kept a female persona; wearing dresses, skirts and would put on lipstick.

The former Lancashire Steel Athletics Club runner represented Zimbabwe at international sporting events as a woman.

Sources at Mpilo said when he arrived at the health institution Sithole was clad in three skin tights – apparently to hide his manhood. He was also wearing a bra stuffed with balls of cotton.

Sithole, who was not married, lived with his brother and sister-in-law at the time of his death.

When The Chronicle arrived at the family home, his mother and grandmother had just arrived from their rural home in Lower Gweru.

His mother confirmed that Samukeliso was a man and was born 33 years ago.

“He was a man and we christened him Mduduzi. I’m not aware that he was pretending to be a woman. If it’s true, he was hiding it from me. Samu Sithole is a name that he gave himself and I got to know about it recently. I’ve just arrived and I don’t know what transpired,” said the mother.

She also said she wasn’t aware that her son had represented the country at international sporting events, adding that she lives in the rural areas and doesn’t read newspapers.

Sibanda’s wife who refused to be named told The Chronicle that she was in the bathroom when her husband had an altercation with his brother.

“I only heard them arguing. Unfortunately I was in the bathroom and I don’t know what the argument was all about. I remember Samu leaving the house earlier after threatening to kill my husband,” she said.

“He came back later in the evening and continued to threaten my husband and a fight ensued while I was bathing. When I came out of the bathroom, I found Samu lying on the floor and we called neighbours who took him to hospital.”

She declined to comment on Sithole’s alleged homosexual tendencies.

Sithole’s netball team-mates, who better knew him as Gamu, were also at his house to mourn their friend.

They professed ignorance about “her” being a man and said they have always known him to be a woman.

“We just heard about her death. She was a dear friend and we’ve played netball together for a long time. We’ve heard people claiming that she was a man but we thought they were just rumours because she looked like any other woman,” said one of the women.

Sithole, a multi talented sports person, competed in international events as a female in disciplines such as triple jump, shot-putt and running, scooping gold and silver medals.

He was exposed as a cheat by fellow female athletes in 2005 after she undressed in their presence resulting in crimen injuria charges being preferred against him.

He claimed in his defence that he was born with both male and female genitals.

The athlete added that his parents then consulted a Chipinge traditional healer who gave them some herbs following which he assumed female status.

However, Sithole alleged that they only paid half the money charged for the services rendered by the healer. As a punishment by the traditional healer for them to pay up the outstanding bill, the male organ developed later, he said.

He told the court that he was scheduled to settle the bill with the traditional healer on his trial day and this would have resulted in him reverting to the female gender. He however alleged that he had a boyfriend.

Six witnesses, including two doctors, told the court that the athlete was not a hermaphrodite after which he admitted to being a man. He was jailed for four years in 2005 but was released in 2007 for good behaviour.

Sithole would walk into dressing rooms while other athletes were undressing or watched them while showering. He won the only gold medal for Zimbabwe at the Southern Region Championships in Botswana in June 2004.

He also scooped five gold medals in long jump, short putt, javelin, high jump and 400 metre hurdles at a provincial youth championships in Masvingo while competing as a girl.

His life of deceit started at Ndhamathuli Secondary School in Silobela in early 2004 when some teachers at the school fraudulently acquired a birth certificate belonging to Samukeliso Sithole, a Form Four pupil at the school for him to use at competitions.

After being exposed as a fraud he went underground and only re-emerged in 2010 as a boxer. The Zimbabwe Amateur Boxing Association barred him from competitive boxing after he resurfaced in Chiredzi where he had become an instant female hero.