Joshua Nkomo family's security man beaten up

A SECURITY guard employed by the late Vice President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo's family was allegedly killed on Friday after he tried to stop a gang of men from poaching sand from one of their premises.

A neighbour found Yowani Ngwenya (24) dead at a granite site within Mqabuko Heights area in Bulawayo's Burnside suburb and tipped off the police.

The body had bruises on the forehead, above the right eye and was bleeding from the left ear.

The Chronicle visited the Ngwenya family yesterday who are hoping to ferry his body to Hwange for burial after they get police clearance and postmortem results.

"We're still in shock as a family and we hope police investigations will help us find who did this to Yowani. We last saw him on Friday evening after work and we were shocked to learn that his body was found at the granite site which he normally mans," said Mr Albert Muzanenhamo, his brother-in-law.

He said their neighbours heard screams around the area at around 7PM but no one went out to investigate.

"The neighbours confirmed they heard screams but they were too scared to leave the house. We suspect that he was killed by sand poachers who don't live around this area."

Mr Muzanenhamo said a cream truck was spotted in the area carrying sand to a nearby house which is under construction.

"We heard that Yowani had stopped a group of men from poaching sand and they may have retaliated by beating him to death," he said.

Ngwenya's wife Ms Sihle Nyoni said her husband left home on Friday evening promising to return within a few hours.

"When he didn't return, I thought he had gone back to Matsheumhlophe.

"However, early in the morning one of my neighbours notified me that someone was lying at the site and when I got there I noticed that it was Ngwenya who was already dead," said Ms Nyoni.

She said Ngwenya had two children aged five and one.

"We're just hoping that investigations will go well and that we will get benefits from his employer so we proceed with funeral arrangements," she said.

Mrs Thandiwe Nkomo-Ibrahim who runs Anzac Investments that employed Ngwenya could not be reached for comments on her mobile phone yesterday.

Police national spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said he could not confirm the incident as he was yet to receive details.