By Ronnty Zikhali
IN an incident which left villagers at Zimbabwe's resort town of Binga in shock, a crocodile grabbed a two-year-old infant from the banks of the mighty Zambezi river and went under water before resurfacing a few metres away to cut the child into two before swallowing him in full view of a wailing mother.
The incident happened last Thursday at Intale Fishing Camp whose inhabitants mainly rely on fishing for income. Ironically, Intale in the Tonga language means crocodile.
A visit to the area last Sunday, locals where still trying to come to terms of what had happened, while the deceased child’s parents had reportedly gone to their rural home for traditional rituals.
The folks in the area, who were visibly still in a state of shock, said before the tragedy struck at around 2pm the mother of the child was rinsing clothes she was washing in the river, while her two-year-old child and another child of the same age were playing on the river bank oblivious of the imminent danger. Suddenly, without warning, the crocodile emerged from the water and grabbed her two-year-old son Chido.
“She immediately realized what had happened. She saw the crocodile retreating to the river with her child in its jaws. She tried to wrestle the child from the reptile by pulling his hand. She gave up because the crocodile was also pulling him to the river. The reptile immediately disappeared in the river,’’ said a witness, Mr Samson Twalumba.
“Still in a state of shock and gazing at the river she saw the crocodile come out on the surface a few metres away, tear the child into two before swallowing him. It was very painful,’’ he said, adding that when the tragedy struck the father of the child, Mr Paul Siankuni, was at home.
Mr Twalumba said after the incident they alerted the Department of National Parks personnel, who came and tried to shoot the crocodile but missed.
However, other locals said the department was reluctant to kill the crocodile for commercial reasons as its skin fetched a fortune when sold.
“It is easy to locate the crocodile because it will roam at that particular place as it knows that there is food. If it is not killed we know that it will soon claim another victim,’’ said another man.
The women have since been banned from going to the riverbank with children.
“We have since banned women from going to the river. And if they want to do so they should go there minus the children,’’ said another resident of the camp.
Matabeleland North police spokesperson, Inspector Trust Ndlovu, confirmed the incident which he said happened on 23 September at around 2pm.
“The mother Daires Kamtatu was washing clothes in the Zambezi river while the now deceased was playing nearby with another two-year old. A crocodile slipped out of the water and grabbed the child and disappeared, while the mother watched haplessly,’’ he said, adding that the matter was reported at Binga police.