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Cases of serious bullying by machete gangs that are on the prowl across the country are quite worrying.
Last week we carried two stories on the machete gangs, one from the Midlands where the gangs were reportedly taking their turf wars right into the hospital wards, forcing health authorities to appeal to the police to set up base at the hospital in Kwekwe. We also had a case where artisanal miners attacked a fellow miner over his luck of always striking rich gold claims. The victim was admitted to a Bulawayo hospital after being axed and being left for dead.
Elsewhere in this edition we carry a story in which a school in the Midlands, Chiwundura area, is constantly under attack from the machete gangs. We hear that the gangs force girls from the nearby college into relationships and take them away during lessons and if teachers try to stop them they are threatened and even attacked in some cases. We believe there is a need for our people to have a sense of security. There is no guarantee that such happenings will not spread to towns, especially seeing that in Kwekwe and Bulawayo they are already encroaching to urban areas. Our plea goes out to the police and security authorities to stamp out the vice. It is quite saddening that parents can be made helpless and fail to protect their children when they attend school as they could be hacked for trying to protect, especially the girl child. This is a serious security and human rights issue and the earlier action is taken against these marauding gangs that are associated with small-scale gold mining the better.
If the gangs terrorise the people with such impunity and get away with it, they may become dangerous role models to younger people that may turn to this life of crime. The comments from communities that are under siege do not inspire much confidence in our security arms since it would appear that reports are made but the gangs continue roaming and on their terror path. Let us declare war of machete gangs and rid our communities of fear and the abuse of the girl child by these malcontents.
Online Reporter