News / National
Farmer shoots horses to 'fix' employees
14 Feb 2014 at 06:30hrs | Views
A white farmer based in Vumba in Manicaland reportedly shot her seven horses as a way of fixing her employees who were demanding their dues.
According to the Manicapost, the farmer, Linda Campbell Morrison, was at loggerheads with her three horse grooms - Goodson Sarata (39), Nyasha Nyagwenzi (29) and Kelvin Kasimbe (30) - over monthly salaries.
It emerged that Morrison paid the trio $82 instead of the $200 they had initially agreed on.
In an interview, the disgruntled employees said they were taken aback by Morrison's act of cruelty.
"Horse grooming is labour intensive and it takes a lot of patience to tame the horses. They are wild animals and can be very unpredictable, but we put a lot of effort in ensuring that they behaved whenever we would take them out for riding with Leopard Rock Hotel patrons. Despite all our efforts, we kept getting peanuts at the end of the month," said Sarata.
When the trio decided to take the matter to labour unionists, Morrison started threatening them with termination of contracts.
"She asked us to dig pits and when we were done, she then asked us to bring the horses. She proceeded to shoot them down one by one.
"Though two of them were constantly suffering from flu, the other five were in good shape. Killing the animals was just unacceptable," said Sarata.
Morrison is alleged to have sold the remaining three horses.
When contacted for comment, Morrison said she killed the horses because the grazing lands were now depleted and that she had been advised to do so by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Mutare and Harare.
"Horses are very expensive to maintain and when I finally decided to kill them, it was because there was no more grazing land.
"The horses were old anyway and the SPCA offices here and in Harare advised me that killing them was the kindest way of disposing of them," said Morrison.
The SPCA offices, however, kept giving excuses, refusing to comment on the issue.
Asked about the salary dispute with her employees, she refused to comment.
According to the Manicapost, the farmer, Linda Campbell Morrison, was at loggerheads with her three horse grooms - Goodson Sarata (39), Nyasha Nyagwenzi (29) and Kelvin Kasimbe (30) - over monthly salaries.
It emerged that Morrison paid the trio $82 instead of the $200 they had initially agreed on.
In an interview, the disgruntled employees said they were taken aback by Morrison's act of cruelty.
"Horse grooming is labour intensive and it takes a lot of patience to tame the horses. They are wild animals and can be very unpredictable, but we put a lot of effort in ensuring that they behaved whenever we would take them out for riding with Leopard Rock Hotel patrons. Despite all our efforts, we kept getting peanuts at the end of the month," said Sarata.
When the trio decided to take the matter to labour unionists, Morrison started threatening them with termination of contracts.
"She asked us to dig pits and when we were done, she then asked us to bring the horses. She proceeded to shoot them down one by one.
"Though two of them were constantly suffering from flu, the other five were in good shape. Killing the animals was just unacceptable," said Sarata.
Morrison is alleged to have sold the remaining three horses.
When contacted for comment, Morrison said she killed the horses because the grazing lands were now depleted and that she had been advised to do so by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Mutare and Harare.
"Horses are very expensive to maintain and when I finally decided to kill them, it was because there was no more grazing land.
"The horses were old anyway and the SPCA offices here and in Harare advised me that killing them was the kindest way of disposing of them," said Morrison.
The SPCA offices, however, kept giving excuses, refusing to comment on the issue.
Asked about the salary dispute with her employees, she refused to comment.
Source - manicapost
