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Lizzy Nekhoma, Online Reporter

FOUR men in Bulawayo have been arrested for murdering a man from Pumula North suburb last Friday night after stabbing him for spilling their beer.

In a statement, Bulawayo Police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said the arrested are Eric Ngonidzashe Jena (29), Ayanda Ncube (20), Marvellous Ncube (32) and  Brighton Gwala (25) all from Pumula North Bulawayo in connection with the murder of  Wilfred Maderera (28) from the same suburb.

“On the 2^nd of June 2023 at around 2230 hours, the now deceased and the accused persons were drinking beer at a Sports Bar in Pumula North, Bulawayo. The now-deceased mistakenly spilled Eric Ngonidzashe Jena’s beer. This did not go well with the accused persons and a misunderstanding ensued, which resulted in a fist fight between the now deceased and the accused persons,” said Inspector Ncube.

He said the security guard at the bar pushed them outside and the fight continued.

“Eric Ngonidzashe Jena stabbed the now deceased with an unknown object thrice on the neck and he fell down bleeding profusely from the sustained injuries. The ambulance was summoned and they pronounced him dead upon their arrival.

“A police report was made leading to the arrest of Eric Ngonidzashe Jena. The other three accused persons were arrested after police received information on their whereabouts the following day,” said Inspector Ncube.

He urged the public not to put the law into their own hands, but to try to find amicable ways to solve their problems, especially when under the influence of alcohol so as to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.

Last Saturday, when a Sunday News crew got to the scene of the incident, distraught members of Maderera’s family were still guarding the bloodstained spot where he lost his life.

In an interview, Maderera’s uncle, Mr Dermus Mutambaneshiri said he had arrived home on Saturday morning from the rural areas to learn that his nephew had lost his life during the course of the night.

“I was in the rural areas then I decided to come to town, as this is the day for us to attend church. When I got home, however, I found one of his cousins crying her eyes out, telling me that Wilfred had died from stab wounds. I would be lying if I tell you what they were fighting over because I was also not there. What I can say for now is that the police came and they have taken the person who stabbed him. However, there were a lot of people when this incident happened because we hear there were as many as 17 people during the fracas,” he said.

Maderera’s grandmother, Gogo Matongo, said she was disheartened by the fact that Maderera had died over a petty issue.

“It is sad to lose a child this way. This was my child and he knew no other parent. It is so heartbreaking to learn that you have lost a son because he was fighting over a woman. We are told that they were going back and forth, with one accusing the other of taking his girl. This bar is also a problem because what kind of place has people partying until the sun is up? I am now the third parent who has been called here to be told that their child has lost their life because of a fight happening here. Now I am lost and just waiting to cover my child’s blood because when we wanted to do it, the police told us that their work was not done and we need to wait some more,” she said.

An emotional Gogo Matongo described her last moments with her grandson, saying that she had no inclination when she spoke to him on Friday evening that it would be the last time she would see him alive.

“When he came yesterday in the evening, he found me sleeping not because it was late but because I had been washing clothes and I wanted to rest my back and feet as an old woman. I had had supper when I heard him greeting others and asking where ‘umasalu’ was because he did not believe I could be sleeping so early in the evening. There was no electricity so he entered my room and then lit up the torch on his phone to see me. He then left me US$5 because he said he knew that I like to go to church early. There was no noise or any indication of what would befall us later on,” she said.

Gogo Matongo said they had been woken up in the dead of the night by one of Maderera’s friends who alerted them to the fact that he had been stabbed and was bleeding heavily.

“He had left after eating his meal and when I asked where he had gone the others said they didn’t know but I also didn’t pay any notice of it because these are young men and they have their own lives to live. I went to bed and I don’t know what time it was when we heard a knock on the door. Initially I told his son not to open because he knows his father’s voice and we were afraid that a thief was on our door. Then the person told us that he was his friend and he had been stabbed and was losing a lot of blood. I could not even call the ambulance because my phone was damaged a while back. By the time the ambulance came it was too late and I was heartbroken when it became clear that they were taking his body to the mortuary because he was dead,” she said.

Gogo Matongo described Maderera, who is survived by two children, as a young man that was usually averse to conflict or violence.

“He was a good young man that was never involved in anything criminal and he never said a bad word against anyone. He was left in my care as a very young child because his parents died when he was a child. He did not even know his mother because she passed on when he was very young. He was one of four children that I was left with and now I am left with two of his children, one who is already in primary school,” he said.