The five were
clad in black, blending seamlessly into the inky darkness of an autumn night in
the densely populated suburb.
As a law
enforcement officer, the men’s attire and the fact that they carried sacks long
after most had retired from their daily labours, prompted Sergeant Masava to
inquire about their activities. It was a fatal inquiry.
Moments later,
Sergeant Masava lay prone on the ground, bleeding profusely from a gunshot
wound to the head. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at United Bulawayo
Hospitals.
In the Bulawayo
of yesteryear, the incident would have plunged the city into a prolonged period
of mourning, as people grappled with the untimely death of an officer of the
law in such a violent manner.
Collective
tears shed over Sergeant Masava’s death had even dried, another hair-raising
incident involving firearms brought the city to a standstill only a few days
later. Yeki Ncube, a member of the Nketa 8 Neighbourhood Watch Committee, found
himself staring down the barrel of a gun when he and his colleagues encountered
three men carrying bags and requested to search them. Before he could fully
comprehend the situation, one of the three men produced a firearm and
discharged it in his direction. As the suspects fled, swallowed by the inky
blackness of the night, Ncube was left thanking his lucky stars for his
continued existence.
These two
incidents, occurring in suburbs so geographically proximate, highlighted the
escalating problem of gun violence in the City of Kings. Nowadays, the people
of Bulawayo scarcely have the time to process the shock, let alone mourn a
death or injury resulting from a gun-related incident, before another one
transpires. Gun violence, once thought to be the exclusive domain of
Johannesburg, the city to which many from Bulawayo migrate in search of
prosperity, now seems to be the staple of all crime-related conversations in
Bulawayo.
Police
officers, just like ordinary citizens, are increasingly finding themselves in
the line of fire, as armed robbers in the city demonstrate a chilling
willingness to use deadly force, even against law enforcement agents. Only a
few weeks ago, Constable Cassandra Hove, a victim of alleged friendly fire,
illustrated the perilous stakes that the country’s crime fighters face as they
pursue some of the nation’s most dangerous criminals. Yet, barely a month after
her demise, more police officers have found themselves in the crosshairs, as
Bulawayo seemingly descends into a lawless Wild West.
The 2024
third-quarter crime statistics report, recently released by the Zimbabwe
National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), revealed that Bulawayo has the highest
crime rate in the country, nearly doubling the national average. The data
paints a deeply concerning picture of rising crime in the province, with
Bulawayo residents bearing a disproportionate share of the nation’s criminal
burden. According to the report, Bulawayo’s crime rate is an alarming 2,506.1
per 100,000 people, significantly surpassing the national average of 1,370.6
per 100,000.
“The crime rate
in Bulawayo Province nearly doubled the national crime rate, at 2,506.1 per
100,000 people against the national average of 1,370.6. Of the 205,925 cases
recorded in the third quarter nationally, 84,001 were crimes against public
safety and state security. The second most common type of crime recorded was
acts against property only, with 48,566 cases. Acts leading to harm or
intending to cause harm to the person were 40,078. The total number of persons
charged by the police for all offences was 150,263, of which 89 percent were
male,” reads the report.
A significant
proportion of these incidents are gun-related robberies, which have left
everyone, from business owners to private residents, living in fear of
encountering gun-toting criminals. Fuel stations, in particular, have borne the
brunt of the recent surge in crime, forcing business owners to alter their
operating hours by closing early instead of remaining open 24 hours for
security reasons. Their fears are not unfounded. Within the space of two days
last week, robbers raided two service stations in Bulawayo and bound the
attendants’ hands before escaping with cash. In the first incident, four men
armed with a pistol pounced on Trek Garage in Gwabalanda and escaped with more
than US$15,000 and R800 after attacking the fuel attendant and security guard,
while in the second case, three men armed with pistols raided Amakhosi Service
Station along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road.
“We have
witnessed the upsurge of armed robberies at fuel service stations around the
city. We urge petrol attendants not to keep large sums of money on themselves
or their premises but to deposit their monies in the safes under lock and key
and day sales to be banked,” said Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant
Inspector Nomalanga Msebele.
Perhaps a
greater concern for Bulawayo residents is that the perpetrators of gun crimes
at times seem motivated by more than mere financial gain. High drama and
sometimes callous violence have become hallmarks of some gun-related incidents.
On 31 March, a 37-year-old man and his girlfriend had the misfortune of
encountering a pair of particularly unpleasant individuals in Mbuyazwe along
the Nyamandlovu road. What may have begun as a romantic getaway for the couple
soon descended into a nightmare as the two assailants seized the man and
wrestled with him for approximately 10 minutes before producing a black pistol
and striking him twice on the back of the head. For good measure, they stabbed
the man twice on each buttock with a knife, and to add insult to injury, they
ransacked his car, taking four Samsung Galaxy cellphones and cash amounting to
US$1,000 from his wallet. More gruesomely, one of the robbers then proceeded to
sexually assault the man’s girlfriend. Chronicle
Shingi 
moholo 
