By JULIUS PHIRI –
AN albino woman has been brutally murdered in her home in Lundazi in a suspected ritual killing.
The woman had both hands cut off and several teeth extracted, while her husband was left unconscious after being stabbed in an incident that has shocked residents.
Attacks on people with albinism, especially in East Africa are common because it is believed in some circles that people born without pigment in their skin possess special powers that bring good luck, and thus are killed for their body parts.
Charity Zulu, 37, of Kalumbu Village in Chief Magodi’s area, was killed on Tuesday around 19:00 hours by four men who attacked the couple at their home.
Ms Zulu and her 42-year-old husband Robin Nyirongo had just settled down to sleep when they heard a knock at the door.
When Mr Nyirongo opened the door, four men pushed their way in and stabbed him before going for his wife while he lay unconscious.
They then got hold of the woman, cut off her hands and forcibly extracted teeth from her mouth before fleeing the scene.
Ms Zulu’s bother-in-law rushed to the couple’s house after hearing shouts for help, just in time for her to narrate the ordeal before passing away.
Eastern Province Police chief Eugene Sibote said police have launched investigations into the gruesome murder.
“The body of the victim is currently lying in Lundazi District hospital mortuary while her husband is recovering in the same hospital,” he said.
Lundazi District Albino Foundation is concerned with the killing of the woman because its members living with albinism will now live in fear.
District Foundation coordinator, Dylan Chifita said that Government needs to find ways of protecting albinos.
Mr Chifita said that the brutal murder of Ms Zulu might force people with albinism to give up their freedom of movement.
Mr Chifita has called on Government and the Human Rights Commission to look at ways of protecting people with albinism especially those living in rural areas.
He has since appealed to police to ensure that those behind the murder are arrested and prosecuted.
