Martin Maranda
Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – A tout who attempted to forcibly load sacks of roundnuts in a truck without the owners’ consent was last Friday severely bashed and left for dead with serious injuries at Rutenga market, along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road.
The tout, identified as Martin Maranda popularly known in Rutenga as Mhatso, was left in a pool of blood with a swollen face after he was beaten by an unidentified man who accused him of trying to forcibly load the roundnuts onto the truck.
One of the owners of the luggage said Maranda either genuinely did not know that the job already has takers or was just too desperate to let go of a rare chance to make some little money.
“The bags are destined for Harare so when Maranda came, he started to claim that since he was the first to talk to the truck driver, he deserved to be given the piece job to load our roundnuts bags into the truck.
“He continued doing the job even though he had been told that there were already people who had been hired to do the job. This angered one of the hired loaders who at first tried to peacefully stop Maranda but latter got aggressive,” the woman said.
This reporter witnessed first-hand the ugly brawl between seemingly desperate men who all could not easily let go of a chance to be fruitfully occupied.
The two were later restrained by bystanders and they both disappeared separately into the nearby thick bush.
Police details later visited the area but the two men were already gone.local
