Zim man's heart ripped out in Botswana ritual murder

MACHETE-WIELDING thugs in Botswana killed a Bulawayo man and then ripped out his heart in a suspected ritual killing.

Edmore Rundogo's dismembered remains were found in Maun, about 500km from Botswana's second city of Francistown. The 27-year-old's family, who live in Lobengula West, said Edmore had been working in Botswana since 2007.

They claim he was attacked by five thugs who went on to rip out his heart.

They also cut off his hands, feet, privates and also took part of his brains.

The killers then tried to burn the body, it is claimed, after a traditional healer they had hired to perform the ritual told them they had killed the wrong person.

Rundogo was working as a domestic worker for Mrs Velaphi Reyongo from Brunapeg in Matabeleland South's Mangwe District, who is married to Mr Kanyetu Reyongo from the neighbouring country.

Rundogo's uncle, Mr Strucken Rundogo, told the Chronicle: "Edmore's parents died and I have been his guardian since he was a boy.

"His father was my younger brother. He went to Botswana in 2007 in search of a job and only visited us once in 2008.

"We never received any communication from him until last week on Wednesday when I was told that he had been killed in Botswana."

Rundogo's burnt body and the severed parts were taken to Gumare Mortuary in Maun after the killing on 29 September – but his family was not told until 30 October.

Ramson Muguta, a Zimbabwean cross-border trader based in Maun, but currently in the country, said: "I live 13km from where Rundogo was staying with his wife, child and his wife's relatives. When I visited the homestead, I saw two burnt huts.

"Neighbours suspect that Rundogo was killed by his relatives who wanted to use some of his body parts for  ritual purposes."

Following the killing, it is alleged that a cover-up was attempted when one of his relatives told the Botswana police that it was Rundogo who had set the hut on fire and fled.

Muguta added: "His wife's relatives phoned me and said he had committed suicide by burning himself in a hut, but neighbours realised that his partly burnt body had no feet, hands, private parts, heart and part of the brain."

Mr Reyongo told this newspaper from Botswana: "I work in Francistown and the young man was working for my wife in Maun. He died on 29 September and the people who killed him tried to burn the body because they had removed some of his body parts."