Online Reporter
Gibson Mhaka, [email protected]
THE dramatic details of how a 38-year-old Plumtree rape convict managed to breach prison security, evade a police dragnet involving drones and gunfire, and flee to Malawi have finally come to light following his re-arrest.
Cabangani Mathe, a well-known former businessman from Plumtree who allegedly unleashed a reign of terror in the border town before his escape, was recently deported from Malawi, a move that has blown the lid off a high-level betrayal within the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS).
It has emerged that Mathe’s Hollywood-style escape was allegedly “bought and paid for” using a debt owed to him by a prison officer.
Yusufu Yusufu (47), a prison officer stationed at Plumtree Prison, appeared before Plumtree magistrate, Mr Joshua Nembaware, on Wednesday facing charges of assisting a prisoner to escape.
He was not asked to plead and was remanded to March 20 for trial on $100 bail.
He is being represented by Mr Thutho Mavula, while Ms Sheila Nyathi appeared for the State.
Allegations against Yusufu are that sometime in 2025, while Mathe, was serving a 20-year jail term for rape, he and Yusufu hatched a plan for his escape.
Yusufu allegedly aided Mathe by providing him with two hacksaw blades and instructing him on how to cut through the burglar bars of his holding cell window.
Mathe successfully executed the plan over a period of five days, cutting through three bars while concealing his activities under the guise of cleaning the cell.
On November 15, 2025, between 1am and 2am hours, Mathe finally made his exit, leaving the blades and severed bars behind.
Following his re-arrest, it emerged that the escape was the result of a financial dispute that evolved into a desperate criminal pact.
More details to follow, including a startling, step-by-step confession regarding a hidden debt and a desperate midnight trek through the dense bush, with Mathe describing how he hid in the mountains to evade capture before finally fleeing to Malawi, where he was eventually discovered living as a fruit vendor.
