A 32-year-old Harare woman was allegedly raped twice at knifepoint by her former lover while her new boyfriend was forced to watch, in a violent attack that has renewed concern over sexual violence in homes and along Zimbabwe’s border routes.
The woman was sleeping with her new partner, Tinashe Kamukana, at her home in Kambuzuma when her former boyfriend, Albert Tambara, 41, arrived. Tambara allegedly assaulted her before raping her twice on the bed without using protection.
Kamukana was present during the attack but was unable to stop it. After the assault, Tambara left the house, leaving the couple inside the room. The woman and Kamukana then went to the police to report the matter.
“After the rape, Tambara went away leaving us inside the room. We went to the police and reported the case. I am still in pain,” said the woman.
The case was reported at Warren Park police station under RRB 6999657. The woman’s account describes an attack that began at home but also reflects the wider danger faced by women when former partners use threats, violence and sexual assault to control them.
In a separate case, a 35-year-old Bulawayo man has been sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison after raping his former wife while threatening her with a knife. The man cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the complainant.
He was convicted of rape by Bulawayo regional magistrate Shingai Mutiro. During sentencing, the magistrate said the use of a dangerous weapon and threats aggravated the offence and that the circumstances called for a severe custodial sentence.
“The accused violated the victim’s dignity by engaging in unprotected sex, thereby exposing her to sexually transmitted infections,” he said.
The court heard that the man first threatened the complainant and her boyfriend while she was sleeping at her boyfriend’s home on 10 August. He ordered her to get dressed and told her that he would escort her to her own home.
After accompanying her, he was asked to leave. Instead, he pretended to comply before returning and entering the woman’s bedroom. He then got into her blankets and raped her. A report was made to the police, leading to his arrest.
The two Harare and Bulawayo cases are different in their details, but both involve former partners using intimidation and violence to gain access to women and force sex on them. In the Bulawayo case, the court also found that the accused’s use of a knife and the threats made against the woman and her boyfriend increased the seriousness of the offence.
At the same time, a 24-year-old Beitbridge man has been sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison for raping a 28-year-old woman who was travelling from South Africa into Zimbabwe through an illegal crossing point.
Trust Musona was arrested on 4 July after he was accused of attacking the woman in Beitbridge. The woman had entered Zimbabwe through a bush route and was looking for a man known only as Jonah. Jonah was said to assist travellers crossing between Zimbabwe and South Africa through illegal entry points, but he had allegedly stolen the woman’s belongings during her journey.
The court heard that Musona met the woman near the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority offices. He offered to help her find Jonah and recover what she had lost. He then led her into an isolated bush, claiming that Jonah was there, before raping her.
Musona allegedly hired a taxi and took the woman to his home. There, the court heard, he raped her for a second time.
The woman later persuaded him to take her to Dulivhadzimu Bus Rank. She told him that she wanted to buy a new skirt, but at the bus rank she found an opportunity to speak to Moreblessing Shumba about what had happened. Shumba advised her to report the matter to the police, leading to Musona’s arrest.
Musona was prosecuted by Olivia Chamutinya before Beitbridge regional magistrate Charity Maphosa, who imposed the 15-year effective sentence.
The case has again drawn attention to the men known in the border region as magumaguma, or gumagumas. They operate around informal crossing points on the Zimbabwean side of Beitbridge and near Musina in Limpopo, presenting themselves as guides, transporters or people who can help travellers cross the border or recover stolen property.
Travellers who use the bush routes are often carrying cash, mobile phones, clothing and other belongings. Some are women travelling alone, while others are moving in small groups after exhausting visa-free stays, lacking travel documents or trying to avoid the cost and delays associated with formal entry points.
The crossings can take place at night or before dawn, away from the protection of immigration officials, police and other travellers. The routes pass through open bush and damaged sections of the border fence, creating opportunities for attackers to separate people from their companions and take them to secluded places.
Reports from the border region have for years described magumaguma gangs robbing travellers, beating them and sexually assaulting women. Some victims have had money and mobile phones taken after they were attacked. Others have been threatened with knives or machetes and forced to run into the bush to escape.
The danger is not limited to the crossing itself. Travellers who have been robbed may be left without phones, money, identity documents or a way to contact relatives. Women who are assaulted can be moved between isolated locations before they find a safe opportunity to seek help, as happened in the Beitbridge case.
Musina and Beitbridge remain major movement points between Zimbabwe and South Africa. The official border post handles large numbers of travellers and freight, while informal routes continue to attract people seeking work, returning home or trying to avoid formal immigration procedures. The pressure created by unemployment, poverty and the cost of travel has kept demand for informal guides alive.
Community concerns in the Musina area have previously included rape, murder, robbery and housebreaking. Border officials and police have also faced the continuing challenge of illegal crossings, smuggling and the movement of people outside the formal system.
The three cases show how quickly people who appear to offer help can become attackers. In Beitbridge, Musona used the promise of assistance to locate Jonah and recover stolen belongings. In the Harare and Bulawayo cases, former lovers used personal access and threats to reach women they knew.
For the Beitbridge victim, intervention by another traveller at the bus rank created the chance to report the attack. Her case ended with a 15-year prison sentence. The Kambuzuma woman, meanwhile, remains in pain after reporting the alleged assault, while the Bulawayo conviction has placed another violent former partner behind bars.
Together, the cases underline the need for travellers to avoid isolated routes where possible and for people who encounter distressed or injured border travellers to help them reach police, medical services or trusted support. They also show the lasting harm caused when violence is used against women in private homes and in the bush corridors linking Zimbabwe and South Africa.
As the magumaguma continue to target vulnerable border jumpers, the latest Beitbridge conviction has placed renewed focus on the violence that can follow a promise of safe passage. For many travellers, the journey does not end when they reach the other side of the border. It can leave them robbed, injured and traumatised, with the people they trusted to guide them turned into their attackers.