Bogus policeman beaten up by two women (osiphatheleni) in broad daylight

A Bulawayo fake policeman was on Monday given a thorough hiding after attacking two illegal female foreign currency dealers (osiphatheleni).

The incident, which was witnessed by this reporter, took place at about 8.30am opposite a Chicken Inn outlet situated at the corner of Fort Street and Leopold Takawira Avenue.

The man, whose name could not be established, approached the two women and started menacingly waving a pair of handcuffs in their faces.

He suddenly lunged at one of them who was heavily built and  hit her above the right eye with the cuffs.

Blood gushed from the wound as the man turned on the other usiphatheleni who was of medium build.

He drew blood again, as he hit her behind the left ear with the handcuffs.

However, the man got more than he bargained for when the big moneychanger turned and charged at him.

She caught him in mid stride as he pursued her "smaller" friend and floored him with a rugby tackle.

She sat on him as he lay on his back and started  pummelling him while blood from her wound drenched him.

The other friend snatched a stool that the moneychangers normally sit on when they conduct their business and joined in the fray.

Three police officers, one of them in plain clothes, rushed to the scene and one grabbed the chair before the usiphatheleni could use it on the man who was begging for mercy.
The policemen managed to rescue the man from under the big woman, although by then, he was bleeding from the nose.

The police officers had a torrid time restraining members of the public who started taking pot shots at the man who had been handcuffed.

The crowd was apparently angered by the fact that the man had attacked defenceless women with the metal handcuffs.
"Utshaya abafazi wena!" shouted one man as he hit the handcuffed man with a fist on the face.

The officers had to hold back the hefty usiphatheleni when she picked up an empty soft drink bottle and tried to assault the man with it as they led the group to the Bulawayo Central Police Station.

In an interview after the incident, osiphatheleni said the man was a security guard at Charter House.

"He often comes here pretending to be a policeman. Sometimes he demands bribes or proposes love to some of us, saying he will arrest us if we do not give in to his demands," said one of the moneychangers.

They said they used to pay him until they discovered that he was a "mere" security guard.

"Today he came here in the company of a woman. He gave her $20 in front of us and told her he wanted to teach the prostitutes who thought they were above the law a lesson," said another forex dealer.

They said they were surprised when he started shouting at their colleagues.

"Even the woman asked him why  he was shouting at them. We are happy that he got what he deserved. Our only disappointment is that we did not get a chance to beat him up as well, to pay him back for the misery he has caused us in the past," said the dealer.

The incident occurs barely two weeks after the launch of the international 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, on 25 November.

A comment could not be obtained from the police.