A Bulawayo man has been arrested after allegedly setting a man he accused of enjoying lula lula with his girlfriend on fire during a violent confrontation at a plot in Warringham.
The incident happened on August 23 at about 8pm, after a group of neighbours went to a local plot to help put out a fire. What began as a community effort to deal with the blaze later turned into a bitter confrontation between two young men over an alleged affair.
Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Thandekile Ndlovu said the 21-year-old complainant from Dampier Road, Warringham, was with the accused, Mayibongwe Ngalonde, 22, who also lives on Dampier Road, together with other neighbours when the dispute erupted.
Ngalonde allegedly accused the complainant of being his girlfriend’s secret lover. The accusation quickly became heated, with the suspect threatening to kill the younger man and trying to attack him with stones.
“The accused person started accusing the complainant of sleeping with his girlfriend. He then threatened to kill him and tried to assault him with stones, but the complainant fled,” said Asst Insp Ndlovu.
The complainant managed to get away from the first confrontation, but the dispute did not end there. Ngalonde allegedly followed him and later found him sitting beside a fireplace inside a kitchen hut at their place of residence.
By then, the suspect was carrying a 500ml bottle of petrol. Police said he pulled the bottle from his pocket and splashed the flammable liquid over the complainant before setting him alight.
“The complainant caught fire and started burning. A male adult aged 28 years from the same address, who is his workmate, managed to extinguish the fire by pouring water on the complainant,” said Asst Insp Ndlovu.
The injured man was rescued after his workmate intervened, and the matter was reported to the police. The report led to Ngalonde’s arrest.
The case has drawn attention to the dangerous turn that disputes over relationships can take when anger is allowed to replace communication. The incident involved a small amount of petrol, but the liquid was enough to turn an argument into a life-threatening attack within moments. The quick action of the workmate, who poured water on the burning man, prevented the flames from continuing to spread.
Police have urged members of the public to avoid violence when dealing with misunderstandings, jealousy or relationship disputes. Asst Insp Ndlovu encouraged people facing such conflicts to seek help from community leaders, pastors, relatives or the police instead of confronting one another with weapons or flammable substances.
“We urge members of the public to avoid the use of violence whenever there is a misunderstanding and instead engage third parties, including community leaders, pastors, relatives and the police, to assist them,” she said.
The Warringham assault is not the only case in Zimbabwe in which accusations of infidelity have ended in severe violence. In July 2023, a 67-year-old man, Vimbai Mapininga, was killed at a home in Tafara Village, Mhondoro, after he was accused of having an affair with another man’s wife.
Police said Mapininga was assaulted with an axe on the head and leg by Doubt Dzama. The suspect reportedly fled the scene after the attack, leaving the older man dead. The incident was investigated as murder, with police appealing for information that could lead to Dzama’s arrest.
Another case in Zvimba that year involved a woman who was killed after her husband accused her of having an extramarital affair. Sunday Marimo, 44, was sought by police after his wife, Emilia Chatiza, 41, was allegedly attacked with a wooden chair at Dzvene Village in Kutama. The accusation of infidelity preceded the fatal assault, and the suspect went into hiding after the incident.
Those cases, like the Warringham attack, began with accusations linked to intimate relationships but developed into physical violence. In the latest incident, the person targeted was not the accused man’s partner but the man he believed was involved with her. The attack shows how quickly jealousy can be directed at a perceived rival, particularly when confrontation takes place in an emotionally charged setting.
The police account indicates that the confrontation moved through several stages. The complainant was first accused and threatened, then chased after he fled, and finally attacked inside a kitchen hut. The presence of petrol transformed the later encounter from an assault involving stones into an attack capable of causing catastrophic burns or death.
The fire also placed other people at the residence at risk. Petrol produces highly flammable vapour, and a flame inside a hut could have spread to nearby materials or buildings. The intervention by the complainant’s workmate brought the immediate danger under control, while the subsequent police report set the criminal investigation in motion.
Ngalonde, who is 22, now faces the consequences of a confrontation that allegedly began with suspicions about his girlfriend’s relationship with another man. The complainant’s condition and the extent of his injuries were not provided in the police statement, but he was left burning before his workmate managed to put out the flames.
Police have reiterated that relationship disputes should not be settled through threats, stones, petrol or any other form of violence. Their advice is that people should involve trusted relatives, religious leaders, community representatives or law enforcement officers before disagreements become physical.
The Warringham case remains a stark reminder of the danger posed by acting on jealousy in the heat of the moment. A disagreement that started among neighbours helping to fight a fire ended with one man suffering a serious attack and another being taken into police custody.