Twin terror shadows Dangamvura

Moffat Mungazi
Post Reporter
DANGAMVURA residents are living under the shadow of fear as suspected machete wielding muggers continue to roam the suburb, unleashing a reign of terror that has shaken Ward Eight to its core.
What was once a quiet community has now become a criminal hot spot, leaving families unsettled and on edge.
Ward Eight — covering the P and N sections along with Areas 12 and 13 — has effectively been marked as dangerous territory by these yet to be identified marauders.
In recent weeks, the situation has escalated alarmingly: one confirmed case of rape has been reported, while two other attempted assaults were narrowly foiled. In one attack, the assailant brandished a machete; in another, a knife was used to instil fear.
Although three cases have been officially confirmed, residents believe many more incidents remain unreported, driven by fear, stigma, or lack of confidence in justice.
What began as isolated attacks has now spiralled into a full blown crisis, demanding urgent intervention and decisive action to restore safety and peace in the community.
Danger is looming large every day.
Jeopardy is lurking on every street.
Homes are under siege.
While some police reports have been made, there have been no arrests so far.
Law enforcement agents confirmed receiving the reports, and said they are intensifying investigations to account for the suspects.
The Manica Post this week went on the ground for a deep dive to examine and unravel the complexities of the mysterious cases by gathering the granular details.
After tracking them, two of the victims – who cannot be named for professional reasons – spoke to this publication and narrated their ordeals in graphic detail.
Streak of attacks
The first woman known on record to fall victim was attacked by an assailant brandishing a knife in Dangamvura’s N Section.
The woman complied before she was ordered to undress.
She was stripped naked to her pants.
She was carrying out his instructions very sluggishly in the fervent hope that passers-by would come to her rescue.
“At that moment, my sister – whom I had left behind with a friend along the way – then suddenly showed up. My sister panicked when she stumbled on the scene. The man tried going after her as she ran away. I grabbed him by the trousers to prevent him from pursuing her before he turned his wrath on me,” she said.
The woman said she was force-marched to a secluded, dark place.
“When I tried to scream for help, he hit me with the butt of his knife. I sustained a cut on the nose as I warded him off and fell into a ditch,” she said, showing the scar.
She added: “When my sister fled, she went for help from the nearby shops. The man hit me with the knife butt again before taking to his heels when the rescue party was approaching the scene. One of the rescuers pursed him, but could not catch up.”
The woman spent two days in utter pain and disbelief.
She did not make a police report.
Barely days later and in the same area, disaster struck again.
This time, the assailant was armed with a machete.

The second victim (28), who also lives in the N Section, said she was literally dragged from her yard into a nearby bush, and was only saved by the bell.
The attack left her badly shaken.
“The unfortunate incident occurred on the first Sunday of May around 7pm as I was making my way from the tuckshop I run along the road that leads to Boka Shopping Centre. As I headed to the door upon entering our yard, I was startled by the heavy thuds of someone running behind me. As I glanced over my shoulder, a person wearing a balaclava and all-black outfit pounced on me and pressed a machete to my neck,” she said.
Before she could make sense of anything, he threatened to chop her if she shouted out for help.
When they were by the gate, she narrated, her repeated pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.
She added: “When we got to a spot with a path leading into the mountain a few meters from our house along the road that leads to Dangamvura Clinic, he nonchalantly told me that he intended to rape me to death.”
The devastated woman nearly jumped out of her skin!
She told him that would only happen over her dead body.
A scuffle ensued.
“During the melee, he struck me on the left thigh and arm with the machete, before punching me in the face and on the back. I fell to the ground and started screaming for help. He only abandoned his attack when the lights of a vehicle heading in our direction lit up the scene. The man immediately vanished into the darkness,” she said.
She distraught woman described her attacker’s physical stature as tall and slim.
He appeared to be of a sound mind and in charge of all his faculties.
“He was youthful and around 25 years of age, and I doubt that he was mentally unstable because he sounded clear about his mission,” said the woman.
She said from his voice he did not come across as someone she recognised.
When she got to Dangamvura Police Station to make a report, there were other women who had encountered a similar nightmare that same evening and were also reporting the matter.
In perhaps the most disturbing case, a Form One learner was sexually assaulted at Dangamvura Islamic Church last Friday.
This time the merchant of doom struck around 7am.
The girl’s guardian, Sheikh Juma Yard, said the incident shattered the whole family and left the community shell-shocked.
“Our child who is in Form One was raped by an unknown assailant last Friday. We are at a loss of words and deeply saddened. The attack occurred in the morning around 7am when she was preparing to go to school. The little girl had left her uniform hung out to dry over the night, and as she went out to pick it the next morning, she was attacked from the back. The assailant pulled a sack over her and she could not make out what was happening or cry out for help,” said Yard, who is the Dangamvura Islamic Society chairman.
He added that the horrific incident has left the girl deeply traumatised.
“You can imagine what we are all going through right now,” retorted Sheikh Juma as he cut a desolate figure.
Sheikh Yard said a fortnight earlier around 5am, a gang of men armed with weapons was spotted entering the Dangamvura Islamic Church yard headed for the priest’s house.
An early bird awaiting transport by the roadside blew the whistle on them and averted a potential raid on the priest’s house.
“Our priest was only awakened from sleep by the police who had reacted swiftly to the alarm raised,” said Sheikh Yard.
The church’s worry is that their yard is now being used as a gateway by the marauding felons when they flee into the nearby Dangamvura mountains, said Sheikh Yard.
He added that they conduct their prayers early in the morning and in the evening, and this is fuelling their fear of being a target of the criminals’ nefarious activities.
No one is safe
This publication gathers that another male victim in Area 13 was reportedly attacked and sexually violated in a tuckshop. He is said to be deeply stressed that he is spending most of the time holed up inside the house.
Dangamvura Ward Eight councillor, Councillor Warren Kuhudzai, said the sporadic attacks are a serious headache for the entire community.
“This is the challenge we are grappling with, and we are putting our hands and heads together to tackle it. We have to find a lasting solution to this problem. It is our shared concern and collective responsibility to account for these machete gangs that are targeting women, young ones and even men. They are robbing and sometimes raping their victims,” said the area’s local authority representative.
Councillor Kuhudzai highlighted that as the local leadership, they are engaging various stakeholders to root out lawlessness in the area.
“We have engaged the police and other interested parties, while neighbourhood watch committees have also been set up to superintended the area. The committees are already functional in Area 13 and N Section.One of our challenges at the moment is that members of these respective committees are not properly equipped with the necessary accessories like baton sticks and whistles needed in the execution of their duties because these suspects are armed with weapons.
“The police have indicated that they are seconding armed officers to our committees to reinforce the patrols throughout the night, and we greatly appreciate their cooperation. They are complementing our own efforts very well. Each time we make a report, they react swiftly. When the rape incident at the Dangamvura Islamic Church occurred, police immediately attended the scene, and combed the surrounding areas by even flying drones to rake the Dangamvura mountains,” said Councillor Kuhudzai.
He bemoaned the lack of adequate streetlights, as only one out of the five in the area is functional.
Councillor Kuhudzai called on residents in the area to have their yards properly lit with floodlights and cleared of any shrubs to keep muggers away.
Where is the police?
Without any headway so far made in cracking the cases for several weeks now and the suspect still on the prowl, the public continues to reel from unanswered questions.
Is the culprit a one-man gang or an organised ring?
Will police bust the perpetrator?
“Our community has been turned upside down by machete-wielding gangs terrorising residents by targeting women and raping them. We have become hapless prey. Having a child raped at church, where ordinarily one should seek sanctuary, is such an abomination that desecrates the place. We now fear that this may end in a loss of life if the attacks continue unabated.
“But is this not happening in Dangamvura Police Station’s backyard as three of the confirmed cases were perpetrated in their vicinity? What are they doing to protect the public and guarantee our safety and security? Two of the cases happened just a stone’s throw away from their base.
“Yes, public campaigns are good, but they are not enough when we have recurring cases occurring near a police station,” raged a senior citizen, who declined to be named.
She said the community is challenging Dangamvura Islamic Church to maintain its yard and tighten security by properly lighting the place and repair the perimeter wall.

“That church has somewhat become a haven for bad elements roaming our communities. We suspect that some unruly elements may be carrying out criminal activities there. Used condoms and empty containers of alcohol and other dangerous substances are sometimes found strewn in the church’s yard.
“With those well-beaten paths leading into the nearby bushes, the place could be turned into a den for drug dealers, prostitutes, and robbers or as an express way into Dangamvura mountains,” said the elderly woman.
Acting Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka, said they have activated their operations to bring the culprits to book.
“We are aware of the cases that have been reported in Dangamvura of a male suspect who is mainly targeting women and sexually assaulting them under the guise of darkness. As the police, we have intensified investigations into the matter, and also escalated our visibility through robust patrols.
“As a preventive measure, we are conducting awareness campaigns and stop-and-searches exercises to sensitise communities on the need to prevent crime. We are also making use of modern technology by deploying drones,” he said.
Assistant Inspector Chinyoka said various community policing initiatives are being rolled out as law enforcement agents heighten their efforts to combat crime.
“We are conducting saturation patrols which will run from Thursday (yesterday) to Saturday as we specifically focus on and cordon problem areas with the help of Support Unit, canine section (sniffer dogs) and the mounted unit (horse patrols),” explained Assistant Inspector Chinyoka.
He reiterated the importance of community policing, which allows law enforcement agents and communities to work closely together.
Assistant Inspector Chinyoka urged the public to report any detected suspicious activities to their nearest police stations.
“Public participation in crime-fighting initiatives is very important as communities can mobilise, organise and police each other among themselves by reporting to us any criminal activities and we will swiftly react. Communities must also take ownership through cooperation in combating crime. Our provincial WhatsApp number is +263 718188672,” he said.