KADOMA – A police officer guarding a mine owned by senior Zanu PF officials was hacked to death by marauding gold gangs armed with machetes and axes.
Constable Wonder Hokoyo, 27, was part of a five-member police team deployed to Brompton Mine in Battlefields near Kadoma on December 28 when police say they were confronted by a large group of a gold gang known as ‘Team Barca’.
Brompton Mine has been subdivided into several small units including Maglass, Goodhope, Alexande, Musakaneni, Moddi, Nganganga, Bongola and Copper mines, each with dozens of mine shafts where unmechanised gold mining is currently taking place.
Police said the gang forcefully took control of mine shafts at Goodhope, “thereby dispersing the genuine miners who were extracting gold ore.”
Brompton is owned by former Zanu PF MP Peter Haritatoes but currently managed by Philemon Ndushu, the party’s secretary for transport in Mashonaland West province. Kenneth Mashingaidze is running Goodhope with permission from Haritatoes and Ndushu.
Hokoyo, according to a police statement, fired warning shots in the air but the gang kept advancing towards the police.
Hokoyo, one of only two officers armed with a rifle, was struck at the back of the head with a log and disarmed as his colleagues fled from the scene.
Police reinforcements were summoned from Kadoma, about 40km from the mine, and found Hokoyo dead after suffering horrific injuries. His left leg had been severed with a machete and his right leg had been separated at the knee. He also had a deep head wound.
Investigators say they have identified three suspects as investigations continue.
Police say hundreds of people have died across the country in gold wars as rival gangs fight for control of gold mines.
The machete-wielding gangs, popularly known as ‘Mashurugwi’, are known to use extreme violence to take over mining sites, and sometimes steal gold ore from those they find already operating in a particular area.
Most of the violence has traditionally been concentrated in the Midlands province, but has spread all across the country.
Police have vowed tough action, but so far appear helpless to stop the killings amid allegations that senior military and police officers are also active participants in the gold rush.
