A Kwekwe-based Zanu PF terror group, al Shabaab, which is allegedly linked to ex-vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, on Friday went on a rampage, indiscriminately attacking commuter omnibus crews and residents with machetes demanding the reinstatement of protection fees.
By Staff Reporters
Mnangagwa was fired from both government and the ruling party last week.
Some commuter omnibus crews then resolved to stop paying protection fees to al Shabaab, saying their “godfather” no longer had influence.
According to some party members who preferred anonymity for fear of victimisation by the terror group, problems started when one Chacha went to the commuter rank to communicate the decision not to pay protection fees.
This did not go down well with the terror group, which was collecting $4 from commuter omnibuses plying the local routes on a daily basis and $15 daily from those plying highway routes from Mnangagwa’s home town.
Mines and gold panners were also made to pay protection fees.
“What happened is that there was a youth meeting at the Zanu PF headquarters, which was addressed by Honourable Mudha [Owen Ncube],” one of the youths said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“He addressed the youths at the party office. We don’t know what he said to them but soon after that, they went on a rampage attacking people.”
Some of the injured were hospitalised at Kwekwe General Hospital.
One was transferred to Harare while another woman was stabbed with a machete and is now hospitalised after her stomach was ripped open.
“They attacked people on Friday and appeared in court today [yesterday] and imagine, they were released and the court simply said it was street fighting. We have complained to the police and the judiciary,” one youth said. “After they were released, they were taken by their bosses in sleek Mercedes Benz vehicles and they were back at the rank to attack people.”
Ncube was not picking calls yesterday and Midlands provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende said she was out of the province.
But Zanu PF Midlands provincial commissar Makhosini Hlongwane, who visited one of the victims at Kwekwe General Hospital said: “We have for too long allowed Kwekwe to be the citadel of violence majoring in brute force, majoring in thugocracy, majoring in subduction and constricting the political economy of the entire Midlands province.“
He lashed out at political heavyweights who celebrated al Shabaab.
“Kwekwe is a horror zone where maiming and murder is the order of the day,” Hlongwane said.
“Kwekwe General Hospital receives on average three patients per day, who are victims of gory attacks using pangas and machetes. “We have in 2017 the misfortune of having people that celebrate al Shabaab by adopting the name of the al-Shabaab terror group and they met out violence with wanton abundance in true terror style.
“As the Midlands province, we condemn in the strongest terms all sorts and forms of violence being perpetrated in Kwekwe.”
