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Brenda Zinyuke, Court Reporter

A MAN from St Peters Village near Bulawayo’s Old Pumula suburb has been arrested for allegedly threatening to attack his mother with a machete forcing her to sleep at a neighbour’s house.

Lizwe Ncube (51) allegedly turned violent against his mother Ms Thana Ncube (93) of the same village for restraining him while he was assaulting her great -grandson with a sjambok for allegedly using their neighbour’s donkeys.

Ncube pleaded not guilty to threats of violence when he appeared before Western Commonage Magistrate Mr Jeconiah Ncube.He was remanded in custody to today for trial.

Prosecuting, Mr Tony Kamudyariwa said on Wednesday last week at around 11AM, Ncube’s grandson took their neighbour’s donkeys intending to use them but this did not please him.

“The accused person became angry and assaulted his grandson with a sjambok. The complainant tried to rescue the boy but this made the accused person angrier,” he said.

“The accused person became violent and threatened to kill the complainant with a machete. He got inside his house intending to take a weapon at the same time uttering “ngiyakugamula suka endlini yami” (I will axe you, get out of my house).”

Ms Ncube, fearing for her life, ran to her neighbour’s house where she slept that night as her son became more violent.The matter was reported to the police leading to Ncube’s arrest.

Machete gangs have been terrorising people especially in gold-rich mining towns like Gwanda. Police in some parts of the country have launched operations targeting machete gangs and have also imposed bans against carrying dangerous weapons in public. Special courts have since been set up countrywide to deal specifically with organised machete gang attackers.-@zinyuke98