CommuTalk Reporter
SHURUGWI: In a worrying development, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of Zimbabwe has said the Midlands Province has the highest number of murder cases.
It also says 90% of these involve lethal weapons.
Available statistics show that out of 1 383 murder cases handled by the hight court in 2023, the Midlands Province was the bloodiest as it accounted for 379 cases while Matebeleland South was a distant second with 223 cases and Bulawayo third with 168 cases.
Matebeleland north province had the least number with 23 cases.
Speaking against the ill, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Owen Ncube warned not only machete gangs but those involved in substance abuse that the law will soon catch up with them.
“Shurugwi is known to be home of gangs from surrounding areas as Makusha, ZBS (Mambowa), team Chironde in unity with Gutsa and Mashafutani. (Muno muShurugwi munozikamwa kuti kune mabhuru ekuMakusha, maZBS epaMambowa, team Chironde yakabatana neGutsa, uye Mashafutani).
“This time police has prepared well and are well resourced to solve the matter of notorious gangs. (Zvino rwendo rwuno mapurisa edu vakagadzirira nekupiwa motokari mastations ose vachagadzirisa mabhuru ose kusvika zvanaka. Crime does not pay. Fore-warned is fore-armed, Gweja Nyumwa),” Minister Ncube said during the launch of the ZRP and community campaign against murder, drug and substance abuse, domestic violence, and machetes.
The minister said violence tarnishes the image of the province, which undermines efforts to attract tourism, trade, and investment at a time they have been mandated to modernize, industrialize, and grow the provincial Gross Domestic Product.
He said the launch of the campaign was a turning point and dawn of a new era for Midlands Province and Shurugwi community as the fight against murder, drug and substance abuse, domestic violence, and machete violence is intensified.
During the period January to September 2024, the Midlands Province Supply Reduction Pillar identified 44 drug and substance hotspots mainly in Zvishavane, Shurugwi, Gweru Rural, Gokwe, Kwekwe, and Gweru Urban.
“A total of 587 arrests were made, demonstrating the Second Republic’s uncompromising stance against drug peddling. So, drug barons be warned, as the long arm of the law will soon catch up with you,” he added.
Under the harm reduction, treatment and rehabilitation pillar, 701 drug victims were admitted for treatment at provincial and district health facilities, with 395 discharged and referred to re-integration centres among them Queen of Peace, Ngomahuru, and Ingutsheni.
Experts in the area of drugs and substance abuse indicate that widely abused drugs include mbanje, ganja cake, crystal meth, mutoriro, glue, tumbwa, sex-enhancing pills, and skin-lightening creams.
ZRP Shurugwi was receiving an average of 115 cases of drug and substance abuse-related crimes each month, among them assaults, murder, domestic violence, rape, and violent crimes including the scourge of mabhemba.
Officer Commanding Police Midlands Province Commissioner Partson Nyabadza said the campaign aims to find the solution to reduce crimes.
“ZRP Midlands Province has organised this event and it is placed to deal with crimes that are highly concerned among the Midlands communities,” he said.
Shurugwi Officer-in-Charge Chief Inspector Hazvinei Jindu said some crimes perpetrated in her jurisdiction are harrowing.
“It was not easy to see someone with one ear, without fingers and other body parts which are some of the crimes we are coming across right here in Shurugwi,” she said.
Insp Jindu said drug and substance abuse is the major reason why people were committing crimes using machetes with no respect for human life.
The Judicial Service Commission has expressed concern over the high rate of murder cases in Midlands Province.
