Harare Mayor Suspects Council Mole In Armed Robberies Targeting City Offices

Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has suggested a mole within the council may be colluding with armed robbers to target City of Harare district offices, saying the clinical precision of the raids points to prior knowledge of cash movements.

Addressing an integrity and accountability summit hosted by Transparency International Zimbabwe, Mafume disclosed that roughly US$7,000 had been stolen from one of the city’s banking halls earlier this week.

He called it the latest in a string of heists aimed at council offices that handle cash revenue.

The mayor said the attacks have become a grim routine across Harare’s 18 district offices, striking once or twice a month and timed almost unfailingly to coincide with cash being on site.

“We are trying to digitalise as much as possible,” Mafume said. “Coincidentally, this morning, I just received that US$6,000 or US$7,000 was stolen from one of our banking halls.”

According to Mafume, the pattern of the robberies has worried council officials, who believe the attacks are too accurately timed to be chance.

“We’ve got about 18 district offices. Once every month or twice every month, there is a robbery at the district offices,” he said.

“It’s linked to corruption in the sense that these thieves seem to always break in when there’s money.”

According to Mafume, the robbers seem to know exactly when revenue arrives, carefully avoiding days when little or no cash is on site.

His comments followed a robbery at the Greendale District Office in the early hours of Tuesday.

City of Harare spokesperson Stanley Gama said the incident occurred at around 3 am. Police and council investigators are still looking into the matter.

-ZiFM Stereo News-