A Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) officer based in Beitbridge was allegedly killed and dumped along the Beitbridge-Harare highway.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) which is investigating the suspected murder case said the officer’s body was found with multiple stab wounds.
NewsDay reports that the body had bruises consistent with a struggle before his death, but there was little blood where it was found, suggesting he may have been killed elsewhere and dumped at that spot.
The officer commanding Beitbrridge Police District Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo confirmed the death and that the deceased was a ZIMRA officer. Nyongo said:
Our team went out to attend and we have heard the deceased was a Zimra cashier. We are now investigating where he was hanging out and in whose company.
The deceased’s remains have since been taken to Beitbridge Hospital.
Residents in Beitbridge are upset and are holding the police and the municipality responsible for not providing enough patrols and not developing the area, which is an important part of the border town. The body was found near a 24-hour fast food restaurant, a nightclub, and a popular events venue called PaGomba.
One resident said on a chat group that extensively discussed the incident:
Our local authority has for some reason not been allocating stands to people wishing to develop that area which by now should be built up. Many incidences have been reported about the dangers lurking in that area, but there is very little police visibility.
Boyd Maposa, an aspiring councillor, said:
Police concentrate their patrols in the border post area because of the possibilities of financial gains, but the crime rate at that spot near the hiking area is troubling. Our local authority should also light up the area.
There have been reports of ZIMRA officials being robbed or murdered in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe. In August 2020, a ZIMRA officer was reportedly shot and killed by armed robbers while on duty in Beitbridge. In another incident in February 2021, three ZIMRA officers were robbed of their firearms and other valuables by a group of armed men in the town. These incidents have raised concerns about the safety and security of ZIMRA officials and other law enforcement officers in the area.
In other news – Prophet Passion Java taunts Zimbabweans over gold theft
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ally and self-styled prophet Passion Java has torched a fiery storm after appearing in a video bragging that those implicated in Al Jazeera’s four-part gold smuggling documentary will not be prosecuted because the ruling Zanu-PF party controls all arms of the State.
This comes as the main opposition, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has called for an independent international forensic investigation on the allegations of rampant gold smuggling and money laundering by the country’s political elite.Learn More
