Petrol arson at millionaire’s house

By Andile Tshuma

An Injiva on a revenge mission allegedly travelled all the way from South Africa to set his millionaire brother’s five bedroomed house at Rest Camp resort on the outskirts of Bulawayo on fire following a family misunderstanding.

The injiva, Francis Ndlovu, has since been arrested. Ndlovu allegedly brought petrol from South Africa which he used to set alight the house belonging to his brother Mr Binga Ndlovu who is a businessman also based in South Africa.

Umguza MP Richard Moyo, who is also Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister, visited the scene of the incident yesterday.

In an interview, Moyo, who is a neighbour to the businessman, said Francis allegedly went to his brother’s house in the early hours of last Friday morning, smashed the windows and allegedly splashed petrol in the house and struck a match.

He said the two siblings had an undisclosed family misunderstanding in South Africa and Ndlovu decided to travel back home to commit the crime.

“He realised that a woman was sleeping in one of the rooms with her baby after she screamed when he was breaking a window and he ordered her out and told her she would burn to death inside,” said Moyo.

“Property worth over R4 million was destroyed in the house that Mr Ndlovu said he had used over US$400 000 in building. Mr Ndlovu is a businessman and a millionaire in South Africa.

The fact that someone came all the way from South Africa to do this and did not decide otherwise after all those hours of travel means that this was a carefully executed plan.”

The Chronicle visited Rest Camp resort and observed a sombre atmosphere as family members sat outside, counting the losses.

Mr Ndlovu’s mother, whose name could not be ascertained, said she was pained by what had befallen her son, telling this newspaper crew to return when Mr Ndlovu was back from the police.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident and said the matter had been taken to the courts.

“I can confirm that we are dealing with a matter of suspected arson where someone doused a house with petrol before setting it ablaze. However, I cannot give further details as the matter has since been handed over to the courts,” he said. The Chronicle