By Vusumuzi Dube
There was pandemonium in Cowdray Park, Bulawayo last Saturday when residents discovered a slaughtered donkey’s skin, head, ears and heels hidden in a hole in a bushy area, raising fears that meat vendors in the suburb were selling donkey meat to unsuspecting residents.
The discovery of the hidden parts resulted in residents suspecting that the donkey had been slaughtered for sale by unscrupulous meat vendors. The people then confronted some of the meat vendors demanding to know where they got their meat.
The parts were positively identified as those of a donkey belonging to Mr Ndodana Dube that reportedly went missing at a farm adjacent to the suburb after the owner had left it to graze in the evening.
In the morning, Mr Dube could not find the donkey and efforts to locate it were fruitless.
“I informed people about my missing donkey and just this morning I got information that some donkey remains had been found in the suburb. when I went to the scene I found the head and the ears had the marking of my missing donkey.
“These people are really cruel. how can they honestly slaughter a donkey? what do you do with it because it is not even edible, but by the way it was slaughtered it is obvious that the culprits wanted the meat for sale,’’ said Mr Dube.
He said it was the second donkey he had lost and later found slaughtered.
“This is not the first time for this to happen, the first time when it happened I ignored it but now enough is enough. I can’t be losing my animals, the only investment that I have, just like that something has to be done. If not for me at least to protect those who might be innocently buying this meat for consumption,’’ said Mr Dube.
Residents who spoke to Sunday News expressed disgust at the ploy by the meat vendors in the suburb saying there was a huge possibility that they were selling donkey meat to them.
“Most of us don’t even know what donkey meat looks like so they take advantage of desperate, unsuspecting residents to sell this meat at a cheaper rate. The authorities must intervene and bring these unscrupulous individuals to book as a matter of urgency,’’ said a resident who only identified himself as Mr Moyo.
The residents said it was unfortunate that people were buying from the meat vendors because of their cheap prices but that meat was not subjected to any testing or licensing from the relevant departments.
One of the meat vendors who spoke on condition of anonymity however refuted the allegations being levelled against them saying they bought genuine meat from neighbouring farms.
“We are trying to make a living here, it is unfair for someone to come to us and accuse us of selling donkey meat. this is just not good for business, we are out to map life not kill people.
“If these people feel we are selling donkey meat, we are challenging them to come and test our meat and tell us whether it is donkey meat or not. yes, we agree that there are some of us who are unscrupulous but this does not mean all of us can do such things,’’ said the meat vendor. Sunday News
