Online Reporter
Tanaka Nkala
WE have heard of vendor wars, tuckshop wars, and even transport wars in the dusty streets of the ghetto — but this is a new one.
Barbers in Lobengula West are now at each other’s throats, fighting over who gets to remove hair from the heads of the local gents.
What started as a bit of healthy competition has turned into a “shaved-earth” policy, leaving one local barber counting his losses while his rival allegedly uses “inside connections” to keep the clippers quiet.
Thamsanqa Mafu (35) is a man in tears.
For the second time in just a month, municipal rangers descended on his stall like a ton of bricks, demolishing his only source of income.
But this wasn’t your usual council clean-up.
Ncube smells a rat — and he says it smells like a jealous neighbour.
He claims he is being targeted by a rival trader, a former Bulawayo City Council employee, who reportedly didn’t like the fact that customers were flocking to Ncube’s chair instead of his.
“This is very suspicious,” Ncube told B-Metro.
“My neighbour has been threatening me, telling me to shut down because I’m taking his customers.
“He is a former council worker, and I’m positive he is using his old ‘homeboys’ in the uniforms to shut me down without any proper authority.”
The “raid” has left the community baffled. While dozens of other stalls are operating under the exact same conditions in the same area, only Thamsanqa’s barbershop was smashed to pieces.
To make matters worse, the rangers didn’t just break the shack — they allegedly helped themselves to his expensive shaving equipment.
“They took my tools. That’s how I make a living,” cried Ncube.
“And instead of taking the rubble to the council stores like the law says, they loaded the broken boards and dumped them right at my house. What kind of procedure is that?”
The plot thickened when Ncube followed up with the City Council bosses.
To his shock, he was reportedly told that no such official operation was ever authorised for that area on that day, deepening suspicions of foul play. It seems the “rangers” were doing a private “favour” for a former colleague to kill the competition.
The executive director of the Lobengula Residents Association, Mzingaye Ncube, condemned the conduct in the so-called “barber war.”
“It is sad that in a community where we expect support, someone can use their influence to destroy a brother just because of money,” Ncube said.
“We are appealing to the City Council to stop this corruption where people use work connections to bully others.”
For now, Ncube is left with no shop, no tools, and a pile of wood at his front door — all because he was “too good” at cutting hair.
After being confronted by the residents’ association, and following revelations by City Council officials that no such operation existed, a supposedly shamed and fearful person reportedly abandoned his stall. Spirited efforts to contact the alleged rival were also in vain by the time of going to print.
Bongani Ndlovu