School boys knifed in World Cup attacks

POLICE have launched an investigation after two schoolboys were STABBED in a BAR in Bulawayo's Iminyela suburb while watching a Fifa World Cup match.

The two lads, aged 17 and 18, decided to watch the Group A meeting between Cameroon and Mexico in a bar on June 21.

But Freeman Nyoni, 18, and his mate, Nkosana Ncube, 17 - Form 4 pupils at Lobengula and Msiteli Secondary Schools respectively - very nearly met their deaths after asking a patron to be allowed to share a bench with him.

Nyoni is still admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital where he is being treated for two stab wounds in the chest.

Ncube has been discharged and is recovering from home after being stabbed three times by the bar monster.

Cameroon lost the match 1-0, but it remains unclear if the result sparked the frenzied knife attacks.

Nyoni, speaking to Chronicle from his hospital bed yesterday, said they decided to watch the game at Iminyela beerhall which has a bigger screen and a generator, fearing that they may miss the match due to load shedding and ZBC's unreliability.

Nyoni said they asked an unnamed man for a seat twice, but he only stared at them before he drew a  knife.

The next thing he heard his friend screaming that he had been stabbed, and the terrified Nyoni made for the exit in a bid to save his life.

"When I heard Nkosana shouting that he had been stabbed, I started running but this guy caught up   with me and stabbed me twice on the chest," said  Nyoni.

In a separate interview at his parents' home, Ncube said after he was stabbed, he ran to West Commonage Police Station, while Nyoni tried to run home but collapsed about 150m from the bar.

Both boys were later taken to the hospital.

Ncube was discharged after three days, but his friend has been hospitalised ever since.

"We asked a man to share a bench so that we could watch the game comfortably. He just looked at us, and when we asked for the second time, I just heard the sound of a knife being opened. He stabbed me as I was running away," said Ncube.

Nyoni's brother, Mbusi, said the family was angry that the man who knifed the two schoolboys was still free. He called on the local community to shop the monster to the police, warning he could kill someone.

"The matter was reported the day it happened. Police say they're still investigating and are yet to make an arrest. We don't understand how this could be," said the brother.

He added that the family was afraid that the boy had missed a lot of lessons when he is supposed to sit for his O-Level examinations later this year.

"He has missed a lot lessons and the family has paid a lot of medical bills. The culprit must be apprehended and face the full wrath of the law. We can't have adults stabbing school kids and be left to continue roaming the streets," he said.

Witnesses told Chronicle that the knife thug was drinking with a man known locally as SaSibhonono, who sells goats along Khami Road.

Most of the patrons at the beerhall were reluctant to talk to the Chronicle news crew, fearing the thug would hunt them down.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo declined to comment.