Ranger misses elephant, kills villager

A 61-year-old woman from Chenamisa village in Hwange rural has been accidentally killed by a CAMPFIRE ranger who was aiming at a stray elephant which had destroyed crops in nearby homesteads.

The villager identified as Irene Munsaka was killed in a tragic accident when a ranger employed under the CAMPFIRE programme administered by the Hwange Rural District Council shot and missed the stray elephant resulting in the bullet hitting the unsuspecting villager.

The incident which occurred this evening has left many villagers under Chief Shana in a state of shock.

The stray bullet fired by the ranger hit the old woman resulting in her death.

Relatives and eyewitnesses said they were shocked to hear of the death of Gogo Munsaka.

"We were shocked to hear of the death of Gogo Munsaka and its still mind-boggling that the ranger had to take such a decision to shoot in the direction of the homesteads," they said.

Hwange rural district ward 19 councilor Mathew Muleya described the incident as unfortunate adding that council will assist in the burial of the late villager.

"It's so unfortunate that the rangers who were doing a noble job of trying to protect the villagers from the problem animal ended up killing the unsuspecting villager," he said.

The body of the deceased has since been taken to Bulawayo for post mortem.