AUDIO: David Livingstone School Pupils Found In Macheke
Approximately 22 students from David Livingstone Primary School who were reported kidnapped have been found. It turns out that the driver of the school van, Samuel Honde (60), drove along the Harare-Mutare Road until the van ran out of fuel. The van was found in Macheke, which is about 91 km from Harare. An official from the school narrated:
Pane that Nissan Caravan yeWhite inotakura vana vekuDavid Livingstone indoDhiraivhiwa naSekuru Honde. Pavaenda kunotakura vana masikati kuma1, Sekuru vangotakura vana ndobva vasimuka pachikoro ndobva vangobuda vakananga naMutare road. Hatizivi kuti sekuru va vavhiringidzika sei kana kuti kurasika kwenjere here kana kuti chii chaitika. Saka sekuru vabva vangorova mota vakadaro kusvikira mota yapera dhiziri yava paMacheke. Saka kubva masikati ese pataona vana vasina kusvika kudzimba vanhu vanga vachingotsvaga vachiedza kufonera sekuru vachitryer kutsvaga kombi iya kuti ko yafamba sei yadii. Foni yesekuru yanga isingaiti pamwe pacho yanga ichidairwa nevana vachingoti sekutu vari kuDriver Sekuru vari kudriver. Saka pazenge papera mota iya dhiziri manje vana manje varohwa nenzara kwasviba, kuma half 6 to 7 ikoko vana vaakuchema vakangozara kombi iri paside peRoad payaperera dhiziri paMacheke apa ndopapfuura nemunhu apfuura nepo akazviona akazobvuta phone yasekuru payazofonwa. Ndiye munhu azotizivisa kuti kombi iyoyo iri kuno kuMacheke yakangopaka nevana vari kungochema, driver haana zvaari kutaura tatryer kutaura naye ari kuratidza kuti haasi kukwanisa kutaura. Saka azonozivisawo mapurisa, mapurisa ndiwo azotora mota iya akayiisa paPolice Station paMacheke. Saka ndokutozomhanya kwatazoitawo kuti tichitanga kutevera vana iko kuno kuMacheke.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO BELOW:
LOOSELY TRANSLATED: [There is a white van that David Livingstone Primary School uses to transport their students. The driver’s name is Sekuru Honde. On Thursday, January 18, 2024, around 1 pm, he picked up the kids, left the school and drove along Harare-Mutare Road. We’re not sure what happened, but he might have had a mental problem or something else. He kept driving until the van ran out of fuel. In the afternoon, when the students didn’t come home, we started searching for Sekuru Honde and the van. We couldn’t reach him on his phone, and sometimes the students answered, saying, “Sekuru is driving.” When the fuel ran out, he parked the van on the side of the road, and the hungry kids started crying. Around 6:30 – 7 pm, a person passing by found Sekuru Honde’s phone and was the one who informed us that the van was in Macheke. The passerby notified the police, who took the van to Macheke Police Station. That’s when we went to Macheke to bring back the kids.]
The students were taken to Marondera Hospital to get a thorough check-up to see if they were physically or emotionally hurt. According to a police report, the driver, Samuel Honde, had been hired by parents to transport the students to and from David Livingstone Primary School in Harare since 2016. When the police asked Honde where he was going, he said he was heading to Kuwadzana Extension in Harare. He was arrested for kidnapping and taken to Macheke Police Station. The children’s families were informed, and the students were taken to Marondera Provincial Hospital for a medical examination. When the police arrived, they found 25 children in the van, consisting of 14 girls and 11 boys aged between 4 and 8. Honde, who is 60 years old and lives at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Kuwadzana Extension, will soon go to court.
According to one of Mr. Honde’s church friends who spoke to Pindula News, the driver was not hired by the parents to transport the children. Instead, he is only a driver of a minibus owned by one of his church friends who has a contract with the parents. He spoke to Pindula News:
Topinda navo vese [we go to church together] church and he [Honde] is not that cruel because he has been good to the kids even at church. The issue is that he has gone through a lot and zvasangana neOld age and it led to this. The narrative being pushed by the media is wrong because they are writing from an uninformed point of view. So someone (Honde) in Macheke who claims he is going to Kuwadzana Extension should tell them something but alas because in Zimbabwe we don’t understand dementia issues and mental health issues. Some decide to keep quiet about their conditions because of discrimination in its various forms.
He also mentioned that the owner of the omnibus had been hired a long time ago to transport the children when he had a small truck. Later, he bought a minibus, and that’s when he hired Mr. Honde to be the driver.
