HARARE – Freelance journalist Zecheaus Nemadire (23) was on Tuesday night attacked and killed by suspected robbers in Bluffhill, Harare.
Nemadire’s body was found about 500 metres away from his family’s home, along Lavenham Road yesterday morning by a passer-by who later informed the police.
The deceased’s brother Mr Tangai Nemadire said a friend visited him at his workplace at around 11am to tell him that a body had been found close to their home.
“He told me that he suspected the body to be that of my brother. I went immediately to the scene. Firstly, I noticed the clothes that he was wearing but could not see the face since he was lying facing downwards. After a few moments, I was shocked to discover that it was my brother who was lying dead.”
The police attended the scene and took the body to a city funeral parlour.
“The body will be taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for post-mortem,” Tangai said.
Harare provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Tadius Chibanda said they were still investigating the case.
“We are investigating a suspected murder case which occurred last night in Westgate. The deceased’s body was discovered around 10am lying facing downwards about five metres away from the road,” he said.
He said there were no visible injuries except for nose-bleeding.
Chief Insp Chibanda said beside the body was a mouse which suggested that Nemadire was carrying a laptop.
His identification particulars were also scattered near the scene.
According to colleagues, Nemadire left for home around 8pm and was carrying his laptop.
Chief Insp Chibanda urged the public to avoid walking during the night especially in secluded areas and not to carry valuable electronic gadgets as these attracted robbers.
Nemadire did his attachment at The Herald before joining the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society as an assistant public relations officer early this year.
He was also a stringer for Zimpapers’ ZimTravel magazine.
Mourners are gathered at house number 2508 Bluffhill. Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.
In March 2007, Edward Chikomba, a veteran cameraman formerly with the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), was abducted near his home in the capital, Harare, by a group of armed men in a four-wheel drive vehicle. He was found dead two days later near the industrial farming area of Darwendale, 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Harare.
Chikomba was beaten to death, with sources close to his family suspecting this was linked to his alleged leaking to foreign media of footage of badly beaten opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after the politician’s release from police custody in February.
Footage of Tsvangirai leaving a Harare courthouse with a suspected fractured skull, and then lying in a hospital bed, sparked international condemnation of President Robert Mugabe’s regime. The footage aired on many foreign television stations, but not on ZBC, the country’s sole television network.
