Editorial Comment

WHILE many shouted themselves hoarse alerting government on the dangers of not acting early on the now marauding machete-wielding thugs, the State chose to plug its ears with pegs for political expediency.

From earlier revelations by the machete-wielding god fathers in government we understand that the thugs are part of about two million artisanal miners who were given liberty of the countryside to barrow the earth willy-nilly to extract gold which is being used to help save face for the near bankrupt President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
Unfortunately, the scourge has turned ugly and the thugs are now seriously threatening the county’s national security, simply because they were given free reign for too long.

It is indeed sad that the thugs have now gained such notoriety that they now have the guts to brazenly challenge the law and its enforcers. It is equally disturbing that incidents of the machete-wielding ruffians defying law and order are increasing each passing day, which is pointing to the fact that the problem is fast getting out of hand and could lead to the creation of murderous gangs such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram or the jihadist renegades currently wreaking havoc in northern Mozambique and other parts of Africa.

Some are even postulating that the murderous gangs have been created to act as a government scapegoat to declare a state of emergency in the country so that it also uses the same powers to silence the ever-nagging opposition.
Whatever the case might be, the machete-wielding mobs should never have been allowed to operate under whatever guise because their operations have turned into a festering wound. Despite the several arrests made so far, the high unemployment rate and hopelessness of the economic situation is emboldening many others to take the law into their own hands. Like a wildfire fanned by strong winds, the machete gangsterism is threatening to get out of control given the continued poor economic showing.

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Many are wondering why the State is taking long to unleash the army on the gangsters given that the same government, on two occasions, was more than eager to set the armed personnel on defenceless citizens who decided to protest the rising poverty and poor state of the economy. The more the State drags its feet over this issue, the more the problem will get out of hand. A stitch in time will surely save dozens more.