Residents of Nkulumane suburb in Bulawayo were recently left disturbed when an 88-year-old man allegedly set his niece’s seven-roomed house on fire over a yet to be established dispute.
Joshua Dube who is reportedly on the run after committing the offence had been staying at his niece Rose Tshuma’s house since 2005.
Tshuma, who is based in the United Kingdom, reportedly entrusted Dube to look after her house.
It is reported that on 1 December and at around 4am, Nyarai Shiri, a neighbour who saw the house on fire immediately called Dube, who had already fled the scene.
Dube reportedly instructed her to check for letters that he had left in the letterbox at the gate.
The three letters whose contents were not established were found in the letterbox, one addressed to the owner of the house, the other ones to the community and the police.
Shiri then alerted other neighbours and called the Fire Brigade, who arrived at the scene at around 5.30 am and managed to put out the fire before it had damaged all the rooms.
The incident was reported at ZRP Nkulumane and upon investigation, it was discovered that Dube had deliberately set the house on fire due to his differences with the owner of the house.
The differences are also yet to be established.
Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the incident and said Dube was on the run.
She urged members of the public to seek advice from third parties like pastors or professional counsellors whenever they are faced with disputes rather than to take the law into their own hands.
“We are also appealing to anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of the accused to report to the nearest police station.”
