Dumisani Ndlovu
GWERU – A 20-year-old Gweru man, Abel Mativenga, has been sentenced to two life imprisonment
terms by High Court Judge Munamato Mutevedzi for the brutal killing of two children.
Mativenga was convicted of murdering 13-year-old Everjoy Mangena and five-year-old Natasha
Kanyama by setting their bedroom hut on fire on August 19, last year, following a dispute with their
mother, Sipiwe Machisa.
The disagreement stemmed from allegations that Machisa had accused Mativenga’s parents of
witchcraft.
Prosecutor Michael Mhene told the court that earlier in the evening Mativenga had been drinking with
his sister, Chiedza Siziba, and a neighbour, Cleopas Moses.
Despite warnings from his sister, Mativenga tied the door of the children’s hut shut and set it ablaze
using a cigarette lighter he had obtained from his father.
Siziba testified that she saw Mativenga setting the hut on fire and shouted at him to stop what he was
doing.
Instead, he fled the scene and hid behind a nearby anthill, from where he watched as the hut burned.
The children were burnt beyond recognition.
Post-mortem examinations later concluded that the cause of death in both cases was due to 100
percent burns.
In passing sentence, Justice Mutevedzi described the crime as “unmitigated evil” and said rehabilitation
carried little weight in offences of such gravity.
He rejected Mativenga’s youth as a mitigating factor, stating that individuals who commit such acts
should be removed from society.
“The court is persuaded that there is no other scope of punishment for the offender in this case than
being terminally removed from society. Count one, life imprisonment; count two, life imprisonment,”
the judge said.
Justice Mutevedzi noted that the murders were committed in aggravating circumstances and were
carefully premeditated.
He added that before the abolition of the death penalty in December 2021, the case would have
attracted capital punishment, but the court was now limited to life imprisonment or a minimum of 20
years for murder.
Defence counsel Tinashe Makotore had urged the court to consider Mativenga’s youth in mitigation,
arguing that he would live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life. The court
dismissed the submission.
“No amount of mitigation can persuade the court to amend the routine obliteration in the lives of little
children,” Justice Mutevedzi said.
