Daggers Drawn For Chipinge’s Chief Mupungu

By Stephen Ephraem

CHIPINGE- Chief Mupungu’s throne has become a hot seat after the clan’s elders have disowned him Post on Sunday reports

The Mupungu elders have appealed to the Government of Zimbabwe through a petition which this paper is in possession of to remove the sitting chief Mupungu, real name Happyson Mupungu Nxumalo.

The petition which was signed by Richard Mandende Mupungu, Lincan Mupungu, Happy “Ngungunyana” Nxumalo, Maclean Mupungu and Lovemore Mupungu on behalf of the clan was submitted to Chipinge District Development Coordinator’s office and the Manicaland Provincial Development Coordinator, Edgar Seenza’s office on November 23 2020.

In the petition, the Mupungu clan has raised twelve cases again Chief Mupungu which they claim that he was tarnishing the image of the Zimbabwean government and qualifies Mupungu a criminal than a traditional leader.

part of the litigation raised in the petition reads “Chief Mupungu sold an Isuzu truck, a tractor and a generator that are meant for our chieftainship and he also sold rice donated by the President of Zimbabwe which was earmarked for the less privileged”.

Mupungu is accused of creating a health disaster during this Corona Virus pandemic by disconnecting all boreholes in the entire Mupungu land, he is also accused of disrupting children’s education by disconnecting a borehole at Makoho Primary School.

The clan alleges that he physically assaulted residents of Checheche Growth Point declaring that as a chief they can’t do anything to him.

The clan assert that Mupungu is promoting gender based violence by abusing women in his jurisdiction, parceling out of ancestral land to village heads of other chieftainships without the clan’s approval and promoting stock theft by protecting livestock criminals they allege.

Contacted for a comment, Lincan Mupungu indicated that they want a new chief rather than Happy Mupungu Nxumalo.

“The allegations against Chief Mupungu are enough evidence that we have a criminal disguised as a chief. We are sincerely asking for the Government of Zimbabwe to remove him from office as a chief with immediate effect,” said Lincan.

Lincan Mupungu was acting chief Mupungu when his brother James Mubhopeni Nxumalo was gruesomely murdered in 2012. Richard Mandende Mupungu became acting chief in 2014 until Happyson Nxumalo was made substantive chief in 2015.

Efforts to get a comment from Chief Mupungu proved fruitless since his two mobile phones were not reachable by the time of going to publication.