Touts torture rival to death in taxi war

TWO Insuza touts have been arrested for allegedly torturing a rival motorist to death with a burning log after they accused him of pirating on their route.

Velile Lungisani Mpofu (28) of Tobotobo Village in Insuza and Edward Ngwenya (26) from Redwood, West Acre, are in police custody and are set to appear in court soon.

They allegedly killed Thulani Ncube, a taxi driver, on July 10 after a misunderstanding on sharing of routes and commuters.

Police attended the scene while Ncube was still lying on the ground. Sources said he died on the spot.

However, a witness who refused to be named said he was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby clinic.

"They started fighting over the destination of his commuter omnibus which plied the same route as theirs. They told him to tell his passengers to disembark and get into their kombi but he refused saying he had waited a long time for the kombi to be filled. Ngwenya got angry and started threatening to beat up Ncube and Mpofu went to the car and returned with an iron bar," said Charles Dube, a witness who was part of the passengers that were told to disembark from the kombi.

Ncube was allegedly struck twice on the head with an iron bar and several times on the body with a burning log. He collapsed to the ground following the attack.

The matter was reported to Insuza Police Station on July 10, 2017 at around midnight.

The duo was arrested on the following day at around 10AM after police allegedly got a tip off on their whereabouts.

Sources said police found Ngwenya still in possession of the iron bar that witnesses described as having seen him using to assault the deceased.

Matabeleland North Police Spokesperson Inspector Siphiwe Makonese confirmed the incident.