(Looking Back) – Tengende shooting spree

The Herald, December 28, 1994
BOXING DAY turned into a nightmare for two Harare families when former heavyweight wrestling champion Oliver Tengende, shot five of its members killing two sisters and injuring three others as they watched television at their Marlborough home.

Just hours later, he shot himself with the same gun after confessing to the shootings at his local church.

His girlfriend, Ms Linda Mangwiro and her sister, Mrs Alice Padzarondora, died in the shooting, while three others Mr Michael Padzarondora, his daughter Fiona, and son Richard were seriously wounded and left for dead.

Four children Farai, Rudo, Garikai Padzarondora and his son Jonathan, survived the bizarre episode by hiding under a bed. They had retreated to their room when Tengende smashed open the door shouting that he would kill everyone in the house.

Richard was hit in the back while trying to escape. He managed to run all the way from the house to the gate, some 50 metres away before he was shot. His condition, and that of his sister Fiona and their father Michael, was said to be critical yesterday afternoon. They are all admitted in the Intensive Care Unit at Parirenyatwa Hospital.

The horrific event seemed to have been well-planned and Tengende left behind a written account of his actions and some form of a “will” indicating how his debts and remaining assets should be shared among two women, one of them his sister Elizabeth, and creditors.

The Acting Officer Commanding CID for Harare and Mashonaland Provinces, Assistant Commissioner Remmy Kanyemba, said details of how the tragedy occurred could not be released to the Press as investigations were continuing.

After leaving the Padzarondora residence shortly before midnight, the wrestler known by his fans as the “Black Panther”, intended to go and terminate Ms Mangwiro’s parents at their Epworth home, according to the notes he left behind.

He aborted the mission and sought counselling from a pastor at a church in Mufakose.

His girlfriend (Linda), a teller at CABS, is believed to have moved out of the house in which she was staying with the wrestler who was known for his volatile temper and wife-battering.

She sought refuge at her sister Mrs Padzarondora’s house, a move that precipitated the tragedy.

In his notes, Tengende accused the dead women and their families of “milking” him and asserted that as the reason for ending their lives. He said they had fallen in love with his money and were bent on exploiting him.

The pastor at the Church of Christ in Mufakose, Mr Godfrey Justice said: “He (Tengende) jumped over the fence and knocked at my door very early in the morning. My wife who opened the window was shocked to see him standing outside. Suspecting that something must be terribly wrong, I went out to meet him.

“We sat in the chapel and he confessed that he had done something very bad to two women ‘accomplices’. He could not tell me exactly what he had done to them,” he said.

The pastor was tricked into leaving the church from where he had conducted a Bible reading and counselling session with Tengende, when the deceased asked him to go and collect his personal Bible, confidential records and cash “for safekeeping” from his car, parked outside.

“On my return, I heard one shot. I quickly opened the door to find him on the floor with blood oozing out of his ear and a Star 9mm pistol in his hand.”

LESSONS FOR TODAY

This type of gun violence is not different from what we read and watch on TV in countries like the United States, but fortunately, it has not been repeated at this scale. Crimes of passion are still committed, but also not at this level.

Tengende had a warped understanding of the meaning of love. Love is unconditional, and not based on a person’s financial muscle.

Boxing Day does not mean perpetrating violence against others as Tengende did. This is a day when people exchange gifts.

 

For historical information contact: Zimpapers Knowledge Centre at Herald House on:

+263 8677 004323; +263 0242 795771

E-mail: [email protected]

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