Four Zimbabweans family members based in South Africa died on the spot while three others are battling for life in a suspected case of arson.
Maxwell Mazungunye, Margret Vele, Miriam Mazugunye and another whose name could not be availed died last week when their house was allegedly torched by suspected thieves.
The family was based in Capetown and their bodies are expected to leave South Africa for Zimbabwe on Thursday.
They were seven in the house and the other three managed to survive.
In an interview with H-Metro, Simba Mazungunye, brother to the late Maxwell Mazungunye said it seemed it was planned to kill his brother and family after the now deceased had received several threats from people who wanted keys to the safe where money was kept at the organization he worked for.
“Early this year my brother sent me WhatsApp voice recordings of someone threatening him.
“Whoever these people were; they were Zimbabweans because they could speak Shona.
“At the moment we are not sure what really caused the fire but my brother, his wife and two of their children died.
“One thing I am sure of is that this was not an accident, this was a planned attack and the people who did it wanted my brother or someone very close to him to die.
“These people knew who he worked for and his bosses and they knew that he was the one who had access to where the company money was kept so they wanted the money.
“Maxwell notified his boss about the threats and his boss gave him a gun and security for protection.
“However this did not stop the people who were threatening him and I told him to come back home but he refused.
“He then arranged to meet with the people but unfortunately they knew that he was bringing the police so they did not show up and later that day he received another voice recording, telling him that they did not show up because they knew he was not alone.
“A few weeks after all this, Maxwell, his wife and two of his children died.
“We are hoping that the investigations will unleash the truth of what really happened and who did it,” he said.
The four will be buried in Sanyati – their home area. H-Metro
