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Three victims of a horrific shooting by a Gweru based Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) soldier Carlos Tinashe Chapeyama (23) were yesterday buried side by side in Magwegwe
Three victims of a horrific shooting by a Gweru based Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) soldier Carlos Tinashe Chapeyama (23) were yesterday buried side by side in Magwegwe after a funeral service at Magwegwe Roman Catholic Church.
The victims from one family, pictured here, Rita Nkomo, (23L) Nkosivumile Ncube (16 Top R) and Ashley Phiri (21 Bottom R) were buried side by side after being shot by by a Gweru based Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) who is attached to Kwekwe Infantory Batallion Brigade soldier Carlos Tinashe Chapeyama (23) at his inlaws house in Magwegwe Bulawayo on Wednesday morning.
Chapeyama had been on guard duty on Tuesday night at the ZBC transmitter in Guinea Fowl near Gweru then left with an AK rifle and travelled to Bulawayo where he carried out the gruesome murders of his wife and her two siblings. Phiri and Nkomo each left behind two children while Nkosivumile Ncube (16 ) was awaiting her Olevel results and is said to have only collected a national ID the during the day, on the night she was murdered.
A fourth victim of the shooting who is the soldiers 18 moth old baby daughter (Tlowi Chapeyama), was shot and seriously wounded by her dad after he had shot the other three dead.
Carlos then attempted suicide by shooting himself resulting in him and his daughter being hospitalised with serious injuries in the Mpilo hospital ICU.
The two although having had serious injuries are now out of the ICU and recovering in hospital.
The soldier Carlos is being held under arrest on a hospital bedside Military police and Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) guard and appeared before court held at his bedside after the shooting.
The discerning eye www.newzimbabwevision.com asks how is it possible for a fully armed ZNA soldier to leave his post whetherduring the shift or at the end of shift with his fully loaded rifle and travel from Gweru to Bulawayo without the system realising it.
There should be safety checks to stop such happening, such as hand over, take over and reporting procedures that ensure all dangerous weapons are accounted for at the expected times and handed over to the relief guards or submitted to the armoury.
The ZNA should be held fully accountable for being lax in this matter as they are complicit in endangering public safety. There should be a full inquiry by an independant body over this where the parliament takes note of the submitted report and pushes implements laws that guard against such acts by the military.
Zimbabwe is admittedly a military state but the public cannot live in fear of armed soldiers. if anything at all, there should be no armed soldiers in public as we are not at war. All amunition should be restricted to the barracks and shooting ranges.
The vice president RTD Gen Chiwenga should step in and push for changes that safeguard the public. The other side of the coin, is that if soldiers are allowed to be alaw unto themselves, today its the public being shot, but tommorow it could easily be a soldier shooting at the President Emmerson Mnangagwa,his deputies or government ministers at a public function or while ‘protecting’ them. Public safety is of absolute importance. We need answers as to what happened!
most More news to follow. By Sibusiso Ngwenya
photo-Rita Nkomo , ( L) Nkosivumile Ncube (Top R) and Ashley Phiri (Bottom R)