BULAWAYO- Former cabinet minister Joel Gabbuza is fighting for his life at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo after a frenzied axe and knife attack by a love rival in Binga last Friday night, police said.
Gabbuza suffered deep cuts on his head and hands from the attack at the home of his mistress in Siamakwa Village in Ward 18.
National police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi said: “We are investigating a case of assault where Mr Joel Gabbuza was attacked by two suspects at a woman’s homestead in Tinde, Ward 18.”
Gabbuza, who is married, was in a long-term affair with the woman he was visiting, according to sources. The woman’s ex-boyfriend, who saw Gabbuza as the cause of their split, never accepted rejection.
The ex-boyfriend and an accomplice, under the cover of darkness, first slashed the tyres of Gabbuza’s vehicle before forcing their way into the room where the couple were sleeping.
The former water resources minister was stabbed more than a dozen times, suffering nasty injuries to his head and hands in particular.
Bleeding profusely, he was driven more than 200km to Hwange Colliery Hospital where he was stabilised before being referred to Mpilo for specialist treatment.
The former Binga South MP and later Matabeleland North senator before his recall by Sengezo Tshabangu remains in critical condition in hospital.
