By Rex Mphisa

BEITBRIDGE police’s slow reaction in the last three days have been blamed for three sudden deaths.

A Good Samaritan was fatally stabbed as he tried to rescue a woman being attacked by robbers whose presence police had been advised of, NewsDay has heard.

The other two sudden deaths were of men who took their lives by hanging.

Matabeleland South police spokesman Philisani Ndebele said he was out of the office and did not have information.

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“Please get hold of those in the office, I am out in Hwali,” he said.

Police sources at Beitbridge confirmed the three deaths.

“Thirty-year Jeremiah Mutasa was stabbed close to the border post when he lept in to help a woman under attack by robbers. He was stabbed in the chest,” said the source,

“Police had been warned about the suspicious people, but they did not take preventive action. A woman got off a bus at a roundabout near the Customs and Excise gate and the robbers
swarmed her. The deceased successfully rescued the woman, but paid with his life,” a source said.

Residents said there are usually more than 10 policemen close to the point where Mutasa died.

The incident occurred around 2am and has sparked debate on the role of the police deployed at the border post.

Elsewhere in Dulivhadzimo, 34-year-old Emmanuel Ndlovu hanged himself in what is suspected to be a result of depression after losing his job.

Ndlovu was a clerk at a local wholesaler but lost his job. His body was discovered by passers-by in the bushes in Dulivhadzimo.

In the same high-density suburb, Jeffrey Masiya took his life following a domestic dispute.

It is understood that Masiya and his wife had disagreed over an undisclosed issue leading to the 34 -year-old taking his life.