The health of a Zimbabwe man who was shot 5 times by his Chinese boss for demanding his salary has taken a turn for the worse, as he is now reported to be disabled.
39-year-old Kenneth Tachiona was shot 5 times and seriously injured by his Chinese employer after a heated argument over salaries. Tachiona who has been working at a gold mine in Gweru as a general hand since 2015, was shot in the legs by Zhang Xuelin, a 41-year-old Chinese national.
Tachiona was one of the many workers who had confronted Zhang after he reneged on an earlier agreement to pay his workers in United States Dollars. The workers were not happy when Zhang insisted on paying them in the local currency which has been sharply losing value in the last 2 months. However, Zhang overreacted and shot Tachiona five times, three times in the right leg and two times in the left leg.
Tachiona who is currently admitted at a private hospital in Gweru revealed that he is now disabled due to the injuries he suffered. He is now concerned about the welfare of his young family as he is now unable to work to provide for them.
Speaking to Zimbolivenews from his hospital bed, Tachiona narrated his ordeal as follows,
There is nothing that I did wrong. We were conversing and he said since I was one of the longest serving workers I should convince others to go back to work. When I told him that I couldn’t do that since the other workers were there to speak for themselves, that’s when he told me I was fired. We exchanged some words and the next thing I remember is hearing gun shots and pain in my legs,
Tachiona who has five children, with the eldest in Form Two and the youngest in Grade Three said that at the moment he is concerned about getting adequate compensation as he is now unable to work.
“Of course I want the law to take its course but I’m now disabled and for me the most important thing is to be compensated adequately. I’d be happy if he gets jailed for this crime but my biggest concern is that I should be paid enough money to enable me to take care of my family for the rest of my life since I won’t be able to work anymore.”
Zhang was arrested and charged with attempted murder. He is currently in remand prison after being denied bail. The local Chinese Embassy was quick to issue a statement after the shooting describing it as an isolated incident which should not ruin the relationship between the two countries
