Online Reporter
Rungano W Gwanzura
Audiovisual Editor
HATFIELD residents are reeling from a surge in crime, with Logan Park bearing the brunt of thefts over the past two months.
Car batteries, wheels, clothing and other valuables have been stolen during night raids. Similar incidents have been reported in Msasa Park and parts of Chadcombe.
ZESA infrastructure has also been targeted. The past fortnight saw an unprecedented spike in cable vandalism and theft.
Power cables were stripped from Munondo Road, off Fern Road and Gregory Close off Scott Road.
A transformer housing near Twentydales Road was broken into, with copper cables vandalised and stolen.
St Andrews Road — which runs from Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Road, formerly Airport Road, to Plympton Road — was also hit. The road has two substations, one near Kilwinning Road and the other close to Twentydales Road.
Both saw power cables vandalised and stolen.
At around 2:30am on Sunday, three armed thieves chased two members of the neighbourhood security team who were patrolling the area.
One of the suspects brandished a firearm when approached.
“When we approached the suspects, we were threatened with one of them pulling out a gun, to which we immediately scurried for cover,” said Abraham Munkuli, a neighbourhood watch security member.
“By then, the other two had already cut the cable close to the substation housing using a bolt cutter. They then got into their getaway car which we could not identify as we were a fair distance away.”
At a residents’ meeting, Hatfield Residents Association representative Mr Shakie Mushambi said security measures needed urgent strengthening.
“We need to urgently work out a security initiative that we can rely on. I will suggest something that I have seen working elsewhere in the neighbourhood.
“However, HRA will not impose or force anyone to adopt what they don’t agree to. Please let this be clear,” Mushambi said.
“We need visible and effective patrolling security teams in our hood. We have done it with Park Meadowlands, Chadcombe, the CBZ houses along Chiremba Road opposite St David’s area, Twentydales and St Patrick’s areas and it has yielded amazing results.”
He cited Park Meadowlands, which previously suffered transformer and cable vandalism almost weekly before residents contracted a private security firm.
“Once residents decided and agreed to put boots on the ground, thefts and vandalism are things of the past,” Mushambi said.
The security company deployed armed guards, which he said instantly warded off thieves.
“Residents now have peaceful nights in Park Meadowlands.”
