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 former businessman from Plumtree who allegedly unleashed a reign of terror in the border town before escaping custody, was recently deported from Malawi — a development that has exposed what investigators say is a high-level betrayal within the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS).
It has since emerged that Mathe’s Hollywood style break out was allegedly “bought and paid for” through 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 in custody to March 20 on $100 bail. Yusufu is being represented by Mr Thutho Mavula, while Ms Sheila Nyathi appeared for the State.
According to allegations, sometime in 2025 while Mathe was serving a 20-year sentence for rape, he and Yusufu hatched a plan for his escape.
Yusufu allegedly provided Mathe with two hacksaw blades and instructions on cutting through the burglar bars of his holding cell window. Over five days, Mathe reportedly cut through three bars, concealing the activity by pretending to clean the cell. On November 15, 2025, between 1am and 2am, he made his escape, leaving the blades and severed bars behind.
Following his re arrest, new information revealed that the escape stemmed from a financial dispute that turned into a criminal pact. Mathe told investigators that before being jailed, he had lent Yusufu US$2 000 with an agreement for repayment with 40 percent interest. He was convicted before the debt was repaid and later demanded the money from prison to fund appeals, but Yusufu allegedly claimed he had no funds. Instead of repayment, Yusufu reportedly told Mathe that appealing was a “waste of time and money” and proposed facilitating an escape if Mathe added US$500 to the outstanding amount.
In a chilling confession, Mathe detailed the arrangement.
“In my possession in prison, I had US$500, which I had hidden from prison authorities. I negotiated with Yusufu and eventually agreed to top him up with US$300. After I had delivered the payment, Yusuf approached me during the morning while I was alone in my holding cell and handed me two hacksaw blades. He instructed me to use the blades to cut through the window’s burglar bars to facilitate my escape and advised me to disperse other inmates during the day on the pretext that I was cleaning, and during that period, cut the window burglar bars undisturbed,” he said.
For five consecutive days, Mathe worked on the bars while standing on a toilet to reach the window.
“I cut a total of three burglar bars, which created an opening large enough for me to escape,” he told investigators.
On the morning of November 15, between 1am and 2am, he squeezed through the opening and fled. He first went to his mother-in-law’s home and attempted to retrieve his passport and clothing from his residence in Mathendele but abandoned the effort after spotting police lying in wait.
“I jumped over the perimeter fence on the eastern side and fled to my wife’s family home. I informed my mother-in-law that I had escaped from prison and requested someone to fetch my passport and clothes from my residence in Mathendele. I then took my brother-in-law toward my house, but I remained at a distance while he approached the property.
“While he was at the house, I realised there were police officers on the premises and remained in hiding. Within a few minutes, he returned and informed me that he had failed to retrieve anything because of the police presence. Since there were police at the house, I parted ways with him as he returned to his home. I asked to keep his cellphone, and he agreed.”
Mathe claimed he spent the night and following day hiding in the Mavuka bush, communicating via phone with a neighbour who agreed to retrieve his clothes and money. But when he attempted to meet her the next evening, police reportedly opened fire.
“I ran into the bush but tripped and fell. I remained lying on the ground while police were searching the place looking for me, but they did not see me and they left,” he said.
He then fled to George Silundika to see his girlfriend, only to realise police were already there. He escaped into nearby mountains. During his time in hiding, he said he observed “drones circulating in the sky” as officers searched for him. On the third day, he managed to hitch a ride in a South African registered vehicle to Bulawayo. He passed the roadblock area around PM, arrived in Bulawayo at about 11pm, and later boarded a bus to Harare. From the capital, he purchased a US$120 ticket to Malawi.
“Upon arriving in Malawi, I disembarked in Blantyre and booked into a local lodge for two days using the remainder of my US$200. On the third day, I found a place to rent. I had already started earning a living by selling tomatoes, fruits and chicken cuts when I was eventually tracked down and arrested by the Malawian police,” he said.
Mathe added that he chose Malawi after speaking to a Malawian inmate who told him the cost of living there was low.
