Crime Surge In Zim, As The Rot Flow From The head

Senior Post reporter

While South Africa is currently grappling with corruption scandals laid bare by whistle-blowing police officers, including the widely publicised revelations linked to officer Nhlahla Mkwananzi, developments across the border paint a troubling picture of a different trajectory. In Zimbabwe, allegations of corruption, criminal syndicates, and institutional complicity, particularly within sections of the police, are mounting, with law enforcement officers increasingly accused of acting as conduits for illicit financial flows tied to smuggling, money laundering, drug trafficking, and abuse of office.

In Manicaland Province, these allegations have converged around a long-running and increasingly violent feud between two figures alleged to be key players in cross-border smuggling networks: Mutare-based dealer Edward Muhamba, widely described by sources as a smuggling kingpin, and Kizito Martins Nzawane, a Rusape-based operator. What began as a commercial rivalry has escalated into a series of violent confrontations, attempted killings, arson attacks, and counter-allegations of police bribery and protection rackets.

The dispute is understood to have erupted between June and July 2024, when Nzawane was allegedly attacked in Mutare by a group of men believed to have been sent by Muhamba. Nzawane sustained serious head injuries during the assault. Sources familiar with the fallout say the attack was driven by Muhamba’s suspicion that Nzawane had tipped off officers from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Support Unit based in Marondera, leading to the impounding of two of Muhamba’s vehicles.

However, investigations by this publication suggest a different sequence of events. According to multiple accounts, the ZRP Support Unit had been deployed at the border, where Muhamba’s trucks routinely passed. During this period, Muhamba allegedly stopped paying facilitation fees, citing ill health, while his vehicles continued to move. By the time the unit withdrew, he is said to have accumulated an unpaid balance amounting to approximately US$7 000, prompting the impounding of his vehicles. Nzawane, sources insist, had no role in that operation.

From that point, the rivalry intensified. On 9 October 2025, at around 7pm, Nzawane was intercepted near the Sheba turn-off in Penhalonga by three heavy trucks, a white tipper, a Mercedes-Benz truck, and a Scania, none bearing registration plates. The operation was allegedly coordinated by a man identified only as Grant, who was driving a white Toyota Fortuner without number plates.

Witnesses allege that Grant ordered the driver of the Scania truck to reverse deliberately into Nzawane’s Nissan Caravan (registration AGJ 8034). The collision caused the two vehicles to become wedged together. Realising the seriousness of the incident, Grant and the other drivers reportedly fled the scene.

The matter was reported at ZRP Penhalonga under RRB number 657741, later recorded at Mutare Central Police Station under CR 127/10/25, and also reported to Mutare CID under DR 42/10/25 and CRB 3056/25. Despite the multiple reports and the seriousness of the allegations, no arrests have been made to date. Sources allege that the lack of progress is linked to Muhamba’s influence and alleged bribery of police officers handling the case, claims the police have not publicly addressed.

The violence escalated further on 2 November 2025, when two unregistered eight-tonne Scania trucks carrying smuggled goods allegedly belonging to Muhamba were intercepted about eight kilometres after Rusape along the Mutare–Harare highway around midnight. The interception, reportedly involving individuals linked to Nzawane, resulted in one truck catching fire, while the other was hijacked. The hijacked vehicle was later recovered on 10 November 2025 at Mona Farm, stripped of its cargo.

In the aftermath, Muhamba allegedly turned to senior police officers in Rusape. Sources allege that on November 4 2025, he paid US$10 000 to Snr Police officer in Manicaland, in exchange for Nzawane’s arrest. A police report was subsequently filed on 5 November 2025 under CR 45/11/25, with additional entries at Rusape CID under DR 12/11/25 and DR 11/11/25.

Sources close to the matter claim Snr Police officer (name withheld) has been working in concert with Muhamba to block Nzawane’s operations, accusing him of being a Mozambican national operating illegally. Further raising eyebrows, the two were reportedly seen together recently in Mozambique, where Muhamba is said to be constructing a service station, an allegation that has intensified questions around cross-border business interests and law enforcement neutrality.

Separate investigations have revealed that Muhamba is considered “untouchable” in Manicaland, allegedly due to extensive bribery networks reaching senior ZRP officers both locally and in Harare, as well as alleged links to senior ZANU PF figures in the province. Many of the trucks linked to his operations are reportedly unregistered, yet continue to move freely across highways and border points.

The depth of alleged police corruption was further exposed when three junior police officers from Mutare, Detective Assistant Inspector Reason Aroveshita and Detective Sergeants Kurai Mushwete and Collen Chidhakwa, appeared in court facing charges of criminal abuse of office. They are accused of demanding a US$2 000 bribe to avoid impounding a truck carrying 142 bales of smuggled second-hand clothes intercepted along Vumba Road.

Court proceedings revealed that the truck belonged to Muhamba, who allegedly negotiated with the officers to recover part of the consignment and prevent Zimra from seizing the vehicle. The officers allegedly received US$1 500 to release the truck and US$500 for the offloaded bales. They failed to arrest Muhamba or impound the truck as required by law.

In a separate but equally disturbing case, Muhamba has since been arrested and charged with three counts of attempted murder after allegedly petrol-bombing a house in Greenside suburb during a business dispute. Prosecutors allege that on 20 February, Muhamba, alongside Salmon Muzonzini and other accomplices still at large, rammed a haulage truck into the gate and wall of a house before throwing a petrol bomb inside while two children and a domestic worker were sleeping. The attack caused extensive damage estimated at US$350 000. Bail was denied due to fears he could flee the country.

As investigations continue, more incidents are emerging, including claims that trucks belonging to other Rusape-based traders were destroyed on Muhamba’s instructions, triggering retaliatory attacks in which one of his own trucks was reportedly torched and razed to ashes.

Despite the scale and frequency of these incidents, police action remains sporadic, fuelling public perception that criminal syndicates are operating with protection from within the very institutions meant to enforce the law. Allegations that senior police officials received US$10 000 bribe remain untested in court, but they continue to cast a long shadow over policing in Manicaland.