Polygamous hubby, businessman sets wife ablaze

A Zaka woman, 20, escaped with first degree burns after her polygamous husband poured petrol on a thatched bedroom hut she was in with another villager before setting it on fire.
Masvingo provincial police spokes-person Inspector Tinaye Matake confirmed the arson but said the woman's husband was on the run.
The incident that left Mashingaidze villagers under Chief Ndanga area in Zaka shell-shocked happened on Tuesday last week at around 1am after the woman Ms Chipo Mafurebwe had a misunderstanding with her husband, Lazarus Mushonga, who is a well known businessman in the area.
A Chronicle crew visited Ndanga District Hospital this week, where the woman, Ms Mafurebwe is battling for life, but was denied access to the woman by hospital authorities, as they claimed she had been quarantined in a secluded room and people were not allowed to see her unless they were her relatives.
However, a medical doctor stationed at the hospital, Dr Tafadzwa Chaibva confirmed having attended to the woman adding that she had suffered first degree burns.
"We have admitted the woman in question but we are not allowing people, even the media, to see her at the moment unless you are her close relative. What I can confirm is that she has suffered first degree burns which according to my assessment could be 20 percent. She is stable but unfortunately you cannot see her at the moment," said Dr Chaibva.
A source at the hospital said the woman was still in excruciating pain but said they were on top of the situation adding that the woman had told them that she had been burnt by her husband after accusing her of bewitching his other wife living in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The husband was alleging that Ms Mafurebwe together with another woman from the same village were practising witchcraft. Mushonga belongs to an apostolic church sect.
"The woman said they had a misunderstanding with her husband over accusations of witchcraft. She said her husband accused her, together with another woman, Ms Jane Ganhure, who lives in the same village, of bewitching his other wife in South Africa," said the source.
The source said Ms Mafurebwe bolted out of the room naked and had to endure the humiliation of waving down lifts so she could get to the hospital in her nudity after having taken off her clothes which were engulfed by flames.
She screamed her way to the nearest highway at around 1am where she started waving down lifts and she was lucky to get a Good Samaritan who took her to hospital, said the source.
A villager from Mashingaidze Village, Mr Takesure Bere said Mushonga, who operates a fleet of commuter omnibuses, and is alleged to have many wives, on Tuesday last week, drove around with Ms Mafurebwe before dropping her off near Ms Ganhure's homestead after which he ordered her to "make a plan" for his wife in South Africa to recover. The man alleged that the two were responsible for his South African wife's illness and therefore were supposed to make her recover.
Mr Bere said after he dropped her off, he left, but returned after a while, armed with a 10 litre container full of petrol, which he allegedly poured on the bedroom hut where Ms Mafurebwe and Ms Ganhure were sitting and locked the door from outside.
"He found the two in the hut and poured the 10 litres of petrol before locking them in. He then set the hut on fire but Ms Ganhure escaped through the window. However, Ms Mafurebwe could not escape as all her clothes were engulfed in flames. She was burnt all over the face and body," said Mr Bere.