BY WANDILE TSHUMA
Lawmakers are demanding an urgent security crackdown in rural constituencies following a report of nearly 1 000 violent incidents involving machete-wielding gangs over a four-year period.
A motion moved by Brown Ndlovu highlighted the “horrific terror unleashed by machete-wielding gangsters” in the Vungu Constituency of Midlands Province, where murders, robberies, and assaults have reportedly become a daily occurrence. Official records presented to the House show that 997 violent cases were reported in the Vungu district alone between 2021 and 2025 .
Hwange Central MP, Daniel Molokele, recently raised the alarm to VicFallsLive, following his tour at Inyathi District Hospital, where he revealed that the gold panners were now digging under the hospital and that most casualties and admissions at the hospital were linked to machete-gang violence.
Parliamentarians expressed sharp “disdain” for current judicial practices, noting that the integrity of the legal system is at risk . The motion criticized the fact that “suspects who perpetrate such horrendous crimes are often granted bail and allowed to return to the same communities where they freely continue to molest and intimidate victims and witnesses,”a practice they say grossly undermines public safety.
The House has called for the Zimbabwe Republic Police in rural areas to be modernized and properly equipped. Specifically, lawmakers are urging the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide officers with “adequate tools of trade such as vehicles, modern communication equipment, and weapons to wade off criminal activities”. Additionally, the motion proposes that bail should be denied in machete-related cases and that state witnesses be granted enhanced protection from “intimidation, retributions and retaliations”