Drama at city pub as prominent doctor goes berserk

A Railway Avenue pub in Bulawayo CBD temporarily turned from being a leisure centre to a mini war zone on Saturday afternoon when a city doctor went berserk in a dispute over some properties in the bar against his ex-wife who runs the pub.

According to information provided to Bulawayo24 News by patrons who witnessed the incident, prominent Bulawayo medical practitioner Doctor Nkonzo Ndebele came to the bar on Saturday afternoon in a fury demanding his ex-wife Ms Grace Ndlovu to give him back a fridge which he claimed belonged to his father. In the process of expressing his demands Dr Ndebele is reported to have hailed unprintable insults and threats at his former wife and employees who took refuge behind the counters.

As if that was not enough, Ndebele is reported to have turned his fury over to stunned patrons who could not understand what was happening. The doctor is said to have allegedly turned tables upside down in the drinking area breaking several beer bottles and threatening to "return shortly to shoot the wife" if he did not get his fridge back.

According to eye witnesses, the other wise calm wife tried to approach the doctor to cool him down only for the doctor to get more agitated poking his fingers on the woman's chest threatening to "shoot her through the heart, jump over the body and get his fridge" . In a state of fear and uncertainty, Ms Ndlovu is said to have rushed out of the bar to make a report at Bulawayo Central Police Station.

Following up the story, Bulawayo24 news established that true to his alleged threats Dr Ndebele returned to the bar a little later in a worse of state upon which he was picked up by police.

Information made available to the news crew indicates that Dr Ndebele was briefly detained at the Bulawayo Central Police Station for a breach of a previous court order restraining him from interfering with his former wife's businesses. A copy of the court's restrain order against the doctor was made available to the news crew. Circumstances on how the doctor was released from custody without going through the court that issued the restraining order are still not clear as details at the police station refused to comment on the matter.

Asked to comment on the matter an otherwise timid Ms Ndlovu expressed disappointment at her prominent former husband's behaviour in a public place.

"Who will lead by example in our society if our respected doctors behave abominably like this time and again and get away scot free," she lamented.

Dr Ndebele and his estranged customary wife have been at logger heads with each other for a very long time with their separation and properties dispute now waiting for a High Court determination. The couple has been frequenting the courts so much that the lower courts have given up settling their disputes and referred the matter to the High Court. Dr Ndebele's violent threats and attacks on his wife have in the meantime gone on unchecked despite numerous police reports which the wife claims to have made.

Several times domestic disputes that involve threats and acts of violence as in the case of Dr Ndebele and his wife have resulted in death usually of the wife as the weaker party to the dispute. Several Women's Rights advocacy bodies continue to put the police to task for failing to handle violent husbands against their wives until the wife is resultantly murdered. Statistics provided by women rights bodies indicate that in 90% of cases where a wife is murdered by the husband pointers to the incident would have been exhibited by violent acts and threats over a long period of time and in all the incidents the wife would have made reports to either the community or the police and her pleas ignored as a minor domestic dispute.

Comment could not be sourced from Dr Ndebele whose phone went unanswered.