John Nkomo family blasts police

LATE Vice-President John Landa Nkomo's family has blamed the police for the incarceration of his former bodyguard for attempted murder after shooting a rival farmer's brother.

Eddie Sigoge (66), a retired army colonel from Lobengula West in Bulawayo, was on Friday condemned to prison for four years after he was convicted for attempting to kill a Gwayi man and seven colleagues in a farm dispute five years ago.

Sigoge was convicted on eight counts of attempted murder by Hwange regional magistrate for the Western Division, Dambudzo Malunga, who sentenced him to six years.

Two years of the sentence were conditionally suspended for five years.

Sigoge shot and wounded Patrick Masunda and fired shots at a vehicle with seven occupants in a farm dispute involving the late VP and Langton Masunda in the Gwayi Conservancy.

Nkomo and Langton were in dispute over Lugo Ranch in the Gwayi Conservancy.

But Nkomo's son Jabulani yesterday said the shooting would not have occurred if police had done their job.

He said Sigoge did not deserve to be incarcerated as a celebrated war hero who was known for his dedication and courage in executing the liberation struggle. Sigoge, Jabulani said, was a peace-loving man.

"Now he is being made to suffer because someone, a man from Mashonaland, decided he would come to Matabeleland North and cause havoc," he said.

"A man who seems determined to persecute anything and anyone to do with John Nkomo. This man seems to be a law unto himself. He can trespass and poach anywhere he wants, especially at John Nkomo's farm.

"Several police reports were made about this man that he was disturbing hunting operations at Nkomo's farm.

"Police never bothered to act. Is it because all of them (the police) there are also from Mashonaland and they are protecting their own? Then we in Matabeleland are in serious trouble."

He said the shooting incident wouldn't have occurred had police done their job, adding that had they acted on the family's many reports about Masunda's actions, "we would not be where we are today".

"The outcome of this case only means one thing; that people can go into others' property and do what they want," he said.

"This will cause chaos in the country. How do we protect ourselves and our property? This man will now be at large in Lugo because the court has given him the opportunity to go back there again. He is now protected.

"We hope the police will protect us this time around. We do not want any more incidents there. I have been involved in the Lugo issue ever since problems were unnecessarily caused by some foreigner in Matabeleland who is responsible for creating a ‘dispute' where there isn't any at Lugo.

Jabulani added: "This man Masunda has caused problems in Matabeleland North and seems to be doing so with so much impunity that one wonders whether there are peace forces at all or not. We have made police report after police report against him. We have made reports for poaching, theft of property, trespassing, contempt of court, disturbance of peace and so on.

"Somehow, these cases have not seen the light of day in court and police have in some cases blatantly refused to act."

Jabulani said they recently got an order against Masunda not to disturb peace at Lugo, but when they informed the Gwayi and Dete police, the cops refused to respect it.

"I am saying so because I personally spoke to the officer in charge of Dete Police. I do not understand what this means and what we as the rightful owners of the land are supposed to do," said Jabulani pleading with the police to protect their property.