A man employed as a herd boy in Empandeni, Plumtree is on the run after reportedly stealing a vehicle belonging to his elderly employer.
The vehicle is a red Honda Fit registration number AFH 4885.
The suspect has been identified as Mduduzi Ndlovu from Nyamandlovu.
Narrating the incident to CITE, the daughter of the elderly woman, Sizani Moyo, said the incident happened yesterday around 11 pm.
Moyo said prior to the incident, she had reprimanded Ndlovu for neglecting the goats and preferring to look after the cattle.
“So, last week when I was in Zimbabwe, I gave him a warning and he apologised but I ended up telling him that he has to look for another person to assist him to look after the goats since he preferred the cattle,” said Moyo.
“I think he felt that I wanted to fire him, so he took the car and other goods together with groceries and ran away.”
Matabeleland South acting provincial Police Spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Thabani Mkhwananzi confirmed the incident saying the suspect is on the run.
“I can confirm that there is such a case and the suspect is on the run, we haven’t recovered the car,” said Assistant Inspector Mkhwananzi.
“He was employed as a herd boy and it looks like he was tasked to wash the car; after that, he claimed that he had misplaced the keys, the family looked for the keys until they surrendered and retired to sleep.
“Around 11 pm when the old woman was asleep, she heard the sound of a car, when she tried to go outside to investigate, she realised that the door was locked from the outside.”
The car could have been stripped after some villagers picked the vehicle’s front bumper.
Assistant Inspector Mkhwanazi appealed to anyone who may have information on Ndlovu whereabouts to contact their nearest police station.
He also urged employers to conduct background checks of their prospective employees before hiring them.
“We would like to also encourage employers to pay the employees on time, it is not only the employee who is bad all the time, some of the employers hire people without paying them, not that I am saying the old woman was not paying him, but at times the employees would want to recover owed salaries through unorthodox means,” said Assistant Inspector Mkhwananzi.
