The number of armed robberies in Zimbabwe is spiking, with some involving soldiers and police officers who have been arrested for allegedly planning and executing them.
While the police are blaming the surge on the failure of businesses and individuals to bank their takings, social commentators say the real cause is the country’s economic meltdown that has seen inflation surge to 268.8%.
According to data from Zimbabwe’s National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), 931 armed robberies were recorded in 2020, rising to 1,120 in 2021.
While ZimStat has not yet released its armed robbery figures for 2022, police statistics show the number of cases y in the first half of the year has risen by 9%.
More alarming is the participation in some of the cases of police officers and soldiers, who are highly trained in the use of firearms.
This month, police shot dead a soldier, Elliot Kandiyero of Mutare, and arrested three other soldiers at Birchenough Bridge in Manicaland after a foiled armed robbery at Nehanda Business Centre in Bikita district. The arrested soldiers were James Keriphanos Makombe of 1 Brigade in Bulawayo, LCpl Oswald Kaseke of the Military School of Music in Bulawayo and Cpl Maxwell Kuwanda of 5 Brigade, Kwekwe.
The largest recent heist was the robbery of US$1.4m from ABC Auctions in Seke Road, Harare, on October 8. Among the suspects arrested for the attack were police officer Kelvin Marimo of Chitungwiza and soldier Osinege Zvomuya of Madziwa.
In January, the military court in Harare sentenced Tatenda Dzimbanete and Wildred Munesi to 40 years in prison for robbing a farmer in Marondera district, Mashonaland East, of more than US$16,000.
In December last year, soldier Tariro Gora of Harare was shot dead by lawyer Joseph Nemaisa after a gang he was allegedly part of attempted to rob Nemaisa’s home. Another soldier, Virimai Nyandoro, and former police officer Francis Takura were arrested for allegedly participating in the robbery. The matter is still before court.
Other recent robberies for which police are still hunting suspects include:
- This week’s attack on Tynwald High School in Harare in which five armed robbers got away with US$6,000;
- An attack on a cash-in-transit vehicle travelling from How Mine outside Bulawayo to the city centre three weeks ago, during which 11.9kg of gold worth US$500,000 was stolen. Some suspects have been arrested but police are hunting for more; and
- Another attack in Bulawayo in September when five armed robbers posing as customers robbed CBZ bank and got away with US$70,000 and R76,000.
The police deny the firearms used in the armed robberies were service weapons belonging to the state. Instead, it is believed many of the guns used in the robberies are sourced from criminals in South Africa and smuggled across the border.
Police spokesperson, assistant commissioner Paul Nyathi, said: “Between January and July 2022, robbery cases increased by 9% and we have arrested more than 100 suspects. Out of these, 28 are serving sentences. But we still have a bigger number: cases that are pending before the courts.”
Police, prison wardens and soldiers can’t meet basic needs [on their salaries] yet they have guns ... and the economy has collapsed to the extent that they are using them
— Democratic Party leader Dr Wurayayi Zembe
Nyathi said that though there were many factors behind the increase in armed robbery, the main one was the failure to bank money by businesses and individuals.
“Just imagine somebody keeping US$1m in an office, or someone keeping US$20,000 or US$100,000 at home, where in the end the information leaks to criminals and they pounce,” he said.
“So one of the issues we are grappling with is the leakage of that information from people who are close to the victim, be it workers or peers,” said Nyathi, adding it was important that those in possession of large sums of cash did not “inform each and every person” of that fact.
Nyathi added that police recently had a meeting with banks to encourage them to tighten security.
Though the country has its own Zimbabwe dollar currency, businesses and individuals mostly trade in US dollars and South African rand to combat hyperinflation.
Trust in the Zimbabwean banking system is low and many customers do not want to bank their money because of their past negative experiences, preferring to keep their cash at home or at their offices.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has previously changed its monetary policy overnight, restricting customers’ access to their own funds. In 2008, many people lost millions of Zimbabwe dollars after they were not allowed to withdraw their money from banks due to cash shortages. That money was eroded by hyperinflation.
Social commentators and analysts believe the wave of armed robberies, especially those involving police and military officials, was a symptom of the collapsing economy. Political analyst and leader of the Democratic Party Dr Wurayayi Zembe blamed the poor salaries of the police and military.
“Most public workers are not being remunerated enough to live decent lives. Police and prison wardens can’t meet their basic needs, yet they have guns that they use on behalf of the state for our security. So the generalised armed robberies are an indication that the state of the economy has now collapsed to the extent that these people are now using guns,” he said.
“This now has introduced general economic and political anarchy in the country. The security sector should be organised by the state but the state is failing its employees and workforce in the security sector,” he said.
A businessman who was recently robbed of money he kept at work, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed with Zembe that the economic meltdown and poor salaries for government workers could be the cause of the phenomenon.
“People are getting low salaries — especially state security agents like police and soldiers — so they end up using their training skills to rob our company premises. So as long the issue of salaries is not solved this problem might continue,” he said.
Zimbabwe civil servants get less than US$300 a month. In recent months, state employees including teachers and nurses have been protesting their low wages.
Health workers, especially nurses, have also been leaving the country in droves, seeking better salaries elsewhere.
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