Crime Reporter
A gunman fired a shot and robbed a Beitbridge Ministry of Health and Child Care official Treasure Dube at his house in the early hours of Sunday as robbers lay siege on the border town of Beitbridge.
This was a just after a mobile money transfer (Ecocash) agent was attacked as she got home by suspected armed robbers who stripped her and her family of mobile phones and keys to her shop at Tshitaudze (Mashavire) Shops.
Dube was robbed in the Kwalu (SDP Hawkflight) area at around 1am by the gunman who first discharged a shot before training his gun at an infant he threatened to shoot if his orders were not met.
“He opened a window and gained access. The child’s cot-bed is close to the window and from there he made his demands, it was scary,” Dube told Ziyah News Network Sunday.
“They took two phones, two tablets and money that was in my wallet, $60 and R300.”
“Luckily he failed to start my motor car because he had taken the car keys also,” said Dube.
The robbery is the upteenth in just two days when armed and plain robbers have taken over outlying residential areas of Beitbridge town.
Most residents suspect these robberies have spiked because of deportees from South Africa and also blame lack of police visibility in the area.
As police attended to a robbery scene where a 13-year-old girl Mercy Shenjere was kidnapped Friday night, a lone gunman fired a round and stripped Hosani Kasamula of his R2 500 cash and disappeared into the night.
A day before gunmen allegedly failed to run away with a child at a house in the new medium density.
Residents of the New Medium Density decried the absence of police visibility and some openly said police are only found inside the Beitbridge Border Post.
Councillor for the area Takavingei Mahachi said residents have planned a meeting scheduled for 4pm today.
“We are meeting to discuss the way forward,” he said.
Efforts get police comment were fruitless at both local and national level.