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Thandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter 

A DRUNKEN 54-year-old shebeen queen from Bulawayo allegedly stabbed a man to death in Pumula East suburb after a misunderstanding on Saturday night. 

Marshal Mkwananzi (21) originally from Zvishavane was visiting his siblings in Bulawayo when he met his end at Zenzele Bottle Store. 

Sithembiso Mzizi allegedly smashed a beer bottle and used the jagged ends to stab Mkwananzi in the neck. 

Witnesses said blood gushed from the wound and Mkwananzi tried in vain to stem the flow with his hands.

He died as he was being rushed to hospital.

The Chronicle caught up with Mkwananzi’s family yesterday and relatives said he was a peaceful man who died a painful death. 

Residents on the other hand, described Mzizi as a “drama queen” who once stripped naked after having a misunderstanding with a fellow imbiber.  They said Mzizi, also a shebeen queen in the area, was a bully and always carried a knife to scare anyone who dared cross her path.

“I was awakened at 11PM yesterday and informed that my grandson had been stabbed at a bottle store. I woke up and rushed there and could only find a pool of blood as the owner of the bottle store rushed him to Mpilo Central Hospital,” said Mkwananzi’s grandmother Ms Patricia Mnkandla. 

“Allegations are that she used a broken bottle, which I doubt very much because when I got to the scene, there were no pieces of broken glass but blood all over the room he was stabbed in,” she said. 

According to Ms Mnkandla, witnesses and neighbours confirmed Mzizi stabbed her grandson. 

She said Mkwananzi’s brother-in-law had failed to save his life after he was stabbed. 

He said he tried to stop the bleeding by pressing a piece of cloth against the wound but Mkwananzi was bleeding so profusely that within seconds the whole room had been filled with blood. 

“We have tried to gather what really happened for her to stab my child and they keep saying Marshall was caught in a cross fire. Someone claimed the misunderstanding was over beer but I still cannot understand how and why such an elderly woman could have killed our child,” added Ms Mnkandla. 

She said although the family was still in shock, they had started to make arrangements for the burial. 

“My grandson lived in Zvishavane and had just visited his sisters as usual. He decided to go for drinks with his brothers-in-law and the next thing, he was dead. He didn’t even make it to hospital,” said Ms Mnkandla. 

Efforts to get a comment from the bottle store owner were fruitless as he could not be reached. 

Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango said she was yet to receive the report. 

A neighbour who preferred anonymity claimed that Mzizi was heard bragging that she had stabbed Mnkandla and was not scared of arrest. 

“She openly told us that she is not even scared of the police and that nothing was going to be done to her. We are still in shock and we will forever be traumatised by the amount of blood that spouted from the boy’s neck after he was stabbed,” he said. —@thamamoe