Bosso fan death: Friend gets WhatsApp death threats

A CLOSE friend to the late Highlanders fan Thembelenkosini Hloli,Wellington 'Samadalinja' Kuruchena revealed on Wednesday that he is now living in fear after he allegedly got WhatsApp threats that he should never set his foot in Harare.

This he said followed his Facebook post on a page titled BOSSO UPDATES thanking Highlanders players and officials for their visit to late Hloli's home in Bulawayo's Sizinda suburb on Tuesday to mourn with the bereaved family.

"I got threats on my WhatsApp. I think this is as a result of my Facebook post to the page BOSSO UPDATES. The threats are coming from a South African mobile number. I got three threatening messages from the same number, I only replied one and I have since reported the matter at Bulawayo Central Police.

"I was threatened not to set foot in Harare. I received a barrage of insults," said Kuruchena.

One of the threatening messages that was directed to Kuruchena read: "....Son of B***. Themba Hloli must rot in hell for what he did to my car.... I hate you Ndebeles to the last.... Don't eva (sic) cm to Harare.

Thereafter the sender of the messages went "Reply you a** hole, your mother's ***"

After Kuruchena replied and said "God bless you. it's not over yet", he was further insulted "Your mother's **, God will alawyz (sic) bless me u think hooliganism pays nxt tym (sic) it will b u dnt (sic) ever cm to Harare., your mother's ** you Ndebele..."

The matter was reported under case number IR/6693/14.

Earlier on Kuruchena had revealed that he works in Harare and he went together with the late Hloli to Ihlathi High School before they proceeded to Youth Contact Centre (YCC).

He said on the fateful day when Hloli died after attending the Highlanders versus Dynamos match, they had several phone conversations. They agreed on where they would sit at the stadium.

"We kept talking about the game and where we were going to sit at Barbourfields Stadium. After arriving in Bulawayo at around 2:15pm, I called Themba and he told me there were long queues and the stadium was almost full. He told me the Soweto and Empankweni Ends were almost full and I suggested that we will sit at the Grand Stand," he said.

After reaching a packed and heaving Barbourfields Stadium, Kuruchena said he experienced some network problems hence he failed to hook up with his beloved and departed friend.

As a result, he sat without the company of his pal at the Grand Stand witnessing the match, while he continuously tried to call his buddy to no avail.

After the match, as people began to run riot with the police and with Bosso and Dembare fans in a fighting mood, Kuruchena says he rushed to the back of Soweto End where he tried without any success to locate his companion.

He thereafter dashed to a Kombi that he had boarded from Harare to collect his bag. However, he said the same Kombi took him to Bulawayo Central Business District and he hurriedly boarded a taxi to hood in Sizinda.

"I anxiously waited for the arrival of Themba in our hood. Moments later, I got a WhatsAPP message which went "call urgently" from Themba's phone," said Kuruchena who quickly obliged only to meet a female voice that told him that his friend had been "stabbed near Renkini Terminus".

"Surprisingly, the woman told me she had picked up Themba's sim card and some people had already gone away with his handset. I then rushed to collect Themba's young brother and we went to Ross Camp Police Station before we were referred to Mzilikzai Police Station where we met a number of people that included Dembare fans.

"I asked around for a person who was stabbed after showing them Themba's picture and I was taken to a scene where my friend was stabbed. We found his lifeless body lying down. However, there was no blood around him, we only saw two deep wounds," he said.

The late Hloli died at a young age of 23. He was in his first year Diesel Plant Fitting apprentice with National Railways of Zimbabwe. He was laid to rest at his rural home in Lower Gweru on Thursday.