HARARE – Police have been left baffled after two security breaches on two separate days at the Borrowdale home of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son and deputy finance minister, David Kudakwashe Mnangagwa.
In the latest incident, on June 25, an intruder whom police are dubbing the “ghost raider” left six cartridges – three outside Mnangagwa’s main bedroom door and three on the lawn outside the double storey property on Camel Road which is guarded by two police officers, sources told ZimLive.
The first breach took place on June 23 at around 10PM when Mnangagwa, who was watching TV with his wife, called the police officers after hearing unusual noises coming from the ceiling.
The officers surveyed the house and the perimeter but saw nothing suspicious.
Mnangagwa called the officers a second time at around 11.50PM and asked them to check the roof. There, officers found a bag loaded with some of the deputy minister’s possessions including torn documents and two Apple MacBook laptops and a MacBook iPad which appeared to have been deliberately damaged.
The deputy minister, according to sources, said all the items had been taken from his bedroom. He also informed officers that his gun, a 9mm Beretta pistol with 15 live cartridges was missing, together with US$500 cash which was in the bag.
In the kitchen, the intruder had retrieved a loaf of bread from the kitchen unit and dumped it on the floor near the door.
In one final bizarre act, the intruder went to the garage and cut the driver’s head rest of Mnangagwa’s parked Land Rover Defender.
Police swarmed the property on June 24, including a canine unit, but there was no trace of the suspect, and no evidence of any forced entry, ZimLive understands.
And then, just after 7.30AM on June 26, the deputy minister’s eight-year-old son went to his parents’ bedroom and as he was about to knock on the door he saw a live cartridge lying on the floor and police were called.
Investigators managed to locate three cartridges within two meters of the door, and a further three on the lawn outside the property.
“Police are certain that the live cartridges inside the house were definitely not there when they attended the first incident,” a source said.
“The two incidents have left police thinking they are chasing a ghost raider, because how is it possible to twice enter a house guarded by armed officers and then vanish into thin air?”
Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi initially said he was busy, and later did not take our calls.
The 35-year-old David was named to the strategic ministry by his father in September last year, amid nepotism criticism.
