SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
The city of Bulawayo has been labelled the knife capital of Zimbabwe after two young men were stabbed and robbed on Sunday night. SW Radio Africa correspondent Ezra Tshisa Sibanda, who ferried the two victims to hospital, expressed shock at the amount of force used by the thugs to rob Bongani Donga and Greg Nxumalo of their mobile phones and “just a dollar”.“I was just passing near TM Hyper Supermarket when I saw the two writhing in agony and covered in blood. Just to think they could have been killed for almost nothing really shocks me.“I first took them to the police station so they could get a police report to facilitate treatment at the United Bulawayo Hospitals. The police did not even bother trying to make a follow up on the criminals and this is frightening given the prevalence of this crime in Matebeleland,” Sibanda said. Sibanda blamed the high levels of unemployment (more than 90%) for the rise in criminal activity in Bulawayo, saying the majority of the criminals were young people deported from South Africa and Botswana after fleeing poverty in Zimbabwe. “When they return, they still find themselves unemployed and without any prospects and most of them then resort to crime, robbing and terrorising residents, with young women turning to prostitution, he added. He said Donga and Nxumalo were lucky to have survived but warned that “someone might be killed in future if these thugs terrorising our people are not stopped immediately.” Sibanda said most people were not bothering going to the police after being robbed, saying the police were concentrating more on policing the roads where they were making money through bribes and fining motorists for minor traffic offences. Earlier this month, a Bulawayo judge said he was alarmed by knife crime in Matabeleland North. Justice Martin Makonese said the use of specified weapons such as Okapi knives in the province called for stiffer penalties.