Online Reporter
Dalyn Chigwizura
Khami Prison just got two new VIPs — Very Indicted Pair.
Notorious brothers Enock Makumbi (25) and Roy Makumbi (23) from Upper Rangemore, now infamously dubbed the Brothers of Brutality, have been caged for a combined 70 years for their chilling crime spree that left Bulawayo residents traumatised.
The Rogue Rangemore Rippers were convicted of eight gruesome counts ranging from armed robbery to rape and assault. Their reign of terror began on 1 November 2024. They went into hibernation only to resurface in January with six days of intense violence where they committed six of the seven crimes that landed them in the dock. Theirs was a carefully executed campaign of chaos that unfolded over more than two months.
On 25 June 2025, the pair appeared in the dock at Western Commonage Court. The gallery was packed. Victims, law officers, curious residents and grieving family members all came to see justice in motion.
Enock, tall and grim-faced, walked with a stiff defiance. His younger brother Roy, shorter but more muscular, looked nervous and low-eyed. The air in court was thick with tension.
As Magistrate Sibongile Marondedze began reading out the sentence, silence fell. You could hear a pin drop. She described the pair as predators who used extreme violence to dominate and degrade their victims. Their crimes were cold, calculated and shameless.
When the magistrate first mentioned a 15-year sentence, Roy’s shoulders relaxed slightly. It was short-lived. A court official leaned forward and clarified that the sentence was 35 years effective.
Roy froze. Then it hit him. The reality of spending the next three and a half decades in prison broke the hardcore criminal.
He burst into tears like a child, sobbing uncontrollably and crying out for his mother. “I want my mum,” he wailed in a pitiful voice that drew gasps from the public gallery.
His mother joined in, letting out a loud, grief-soaked cry. “Roy is innocent,” she screamed. But there was no saving him now.
The magistrate was unmoved. “Stop crying,” she told him sharply.
Enock, always the more composed of the two, simply muttered, “Some years will be suspended.” But no such luck. As the final verdict of 35 years each was explained, a wave of suppressed joy swept through the courtroom. Some victims cried. Others clapped. One man was heard saying, “Justice has swung harder than their sjamboks. These thugs have many cases that went unreported. The prosecution did an excellent job!”
The carnage began, according to principal prosecutor Milton Moyo, on 1 November 2024 when Khanyile Ndlovu was attacked by the Savages with Shared Surnames. They beat him with a sjambok and an axe and stole his Samsung S21.
That earned them six years.
On 2 January 2025, they pounced on a young couple moving house. While the husband pushed a cart loaded with furniture, his wife lagged behind. The Machete Menaces dragged her into the bush, questioned her about her HIV status, and Roy raped her while she was menstruating. Enock stood watch. The act was cruel, calculated and carried out using a condom. That horror earned them 15 years.
Not done, the thieving, thrashing twosome struck again that same night. They returned to rob the couple, stealing an Itel phone and US$17 and lashing the woman with a sjambok. Earlier that evening, they had attacked Vela Mguni and Vumani Thebe, beating the latter unconscious and stealing phones and cash. Those attacks earned them six years each on counts that will run concurrently.
On 3 January, they assaulted 52-year-old builder Silent Dube, who tried to intervene during the earlier attack. He was shoved violently and left with lingering back pain. That drew them two more years.
On 8 January, they prowled near Maranatha High School. Pretending to be neighbourhood watchmen, they robbed Thandeka Siziba of her Samsung A23 and US$50. Moments later, they axed her boyfriend Mlondolozi Msiza and stole his phone and US$74. Both phones were recovered. The duo got six years each for those counts, also to run concurrently.
All in all, the sentence breakdown was as follows:
Count 1: 6 years
Counts 2, 3 and 4: 6 years each, to run concurrently
Count 5 (Rape): 15 years
Count 6 (Assault): 2 years
Counts 7 and 8: 6 years each, to run concurrently
Effective sentence: 35 years each
Combined: 70 years behind bars
The relief in the gallery was palpable. The magistrate summed it up best, saying the brothers were a danger to society who left behind a trail of pain, trauma and loss.
Detective Brighton Sibanda, who led the investigation, told how a tip-off in early February led to Enock’s arrest while he was selling a stolen phone in the CBD. Roy was later traced to Gokwe after Enock revealed his whereabouts.
During the trial, victims took the stand and poured out their pain. The rape survivor said she now lives in fear.
Vumani Thebe revealed that three of his fingers no longer function and his child missed school due to the cost of medical treatment. Silent Dube can’t carry heavy items anymore. Thandeka Siziba lost her client base as a hairdresser. Mlondolozi Msiza still suffers neck pain from the axe attack.
Roy denied everything, claiming he was in Gokwe, but could not bring a single witness to support him. Enock admitted to two counts but claimed the rest were forced upon him by police.
Khami Prison now awaits the Butcher Brothers of Bulawayo. And for the next 70 years, their shackles will echo the cries of those they hurt — and the tears Roy shed when he realised the game was over.
Well presented Mr Writer