A 38-year-old man from Hwange District in Matabeleland North Province allegedly killed his 62-year-old uncle, cut his body into pieces, cooked it up and ate the remains.
He then allegedly hung the intestines and some of the body parts on a tree to dry.
The incident happened last month in the remote village of Dinde in the Hwange district.
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson in Matabeleland North Province Inspector Glory Banda confirmed the incident.
He identified the accused person as Wished Mumpande, adding that he had been arrested and had already appeared in court facing a murder charge. The case is still pending.
Insp Banda said Mumpande of Chigona Village, Chief Nekatambe, Hwange killed and dismembered his uncle Fida Stephen Mumpande (62) of Bhale Village, Chief Nekatambe.
Fid had gone missing for three days after he left his homestead to prepare his fields along the Gwayi River.
A search team, comprising Given Mumpande, Maboli Sibanda and Albert Munkuli, left the village and followed Fida’s shoeprints.
Deep in the forest and on top of a hill, the team found the pot with cooked meat. The three men suspected that the meat could be the remains of Fida after they found dismembered body parts scattered around. Said Insp Banda:
The now deceased Fida is said to have left his homestead on the 17th of July to go and prepare his fields along the Gwayi River and he didn’t come back.
Realising that his father had not returned, his son Given teamed up with Sibanda and Munkuli and decided to look for him.
And on the 20th of July, they found his remains in the Gandwe Hills with some having been cooked by the accused.
Ins Banda added that the trio discovered the deceased’s clothes and intestines placed on a tree to dry.
They also located pieces of the deceased’s right arm placed on a tree branch a few metres away.
They also found a thigh cut into pieces that hung loosely on each other and placed on a tree branch.
Insp Banda said it was at that time that the accused, armed with an axe, came to where the pot was.
But the trio managed to apprehend the accused and recovered the axe and the pot.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Homicide Division, Hwange police and Kamativi police attended the scene and arrested the suspect.
