A serial rapist who masqueraded as omalayitsha (private cross-border courier operator) was sentenced to 232 years in jail on Friday at Tredgold Regional Magistrates Court in Bulawayo.
The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) said Prosper Bhule (30), was charged with 18 counts of rape after he violated teenage girls in Bulawayo aged between 13 and 19 from 2018 December to March 2022. Said NPAZ:
<blockquote>
The accused person targeted the girls when they were alone at home, or on the way to school or an errand.
He lured them from the security of their homes by saying that he had been sent to advise the girls that their parents, guardians or relatives had sent them some parcels or groceries from South Africa or vegetables from the local market.
He would insist that the girls must go to the collection point with him to get the parcels.
He lied so convincingly that his victims followed him to the said collection point. He took the victims through a bushy area where he would threaten them with an okapi knife, kick them with booted feet and assault them with fists before raping them. He also robbed the victims of their cellphones.
All the victims made a report to the nearest police station soon after being raped. The prompt reports and descriptions given by the victims helped the police to realise that they were dealing with a sophisticated criminal who premeditated his crimes.
He gathered information about the victims and the frequency with which they were likely to receive parcels, groceries etc from relatives and used the information to commit his crimes.
</blockquote>
Bhule was arrested after a massive manhunt that was coordinated by the Homicide division of the Criminal Investigations Department(CID).
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

Serial Rapist Sentenced To 232 Years Imprisonment

Chiefs and traditional leaders in Matabeleland say young men from their areas who are based abroad (Injiva), mostly South Africa and Botswana, are largely to blame for unplanned pregnancies and early child marriages in their areas.
This came out during a meeting organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works alongside the United Nations for women working with chiefs and traditional leaders in Matabeleland to end violence against women and girls in rural areas.
Senator Chief Siansali of Binga said Injiva and Omalayitsha (cross-border transporters) take advantage of poor young girls in rural areas and use promises of cash and goodies to entice them into sexual relationships. He said:
<blockquote>
These Injiva are also our children. They grew up here. It is the duty of every parent to teach their South African-based children not to take advantage of their neighbours to abuse them sexually.
Most of these children fall pregnant during examination time. They camp at schools because walking on a daily basis to school tires them and makes them lose concentration.
If more schools that are nearer to homes could be built it would make everyone’s job easier.
</blockquote>
It has also been established that girls in rural areas mostly get unwanted pregnancies around December when South African-based Zimbabweans visit the country.
Meanwhile, the partners in the initiative urged chiefs to establish safe shelters for victims and standby funds in their villages to cater for victims of violence.
| <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/injiva-behind-unwanted-rural-pregnancies-chiefs/">Chronicle</a>

Chiefs Blame "Injiva" For Unplanned Rural Pregnancies

ZIMRA has reportedly announced that it is increasing enforcement of cargo checks at Beitbridge Border Post following reports of rampant abuse of import laws which is prejudicing the state of millions of dollars, Chronicle reports.
ZIMRA released a statement on Thursday about increased border checks and said the blitz was going to be extended to cross border couriers also known as Malaichas or Omalayitsha:
<blockquote>This facility has been available for commercial imports only. However, random spot-checks and physical inspections have shown that the quantities, price points of imported materials have been falsely declared thereby defeating the purpose of pre-payment and pre-clearance, which is intended to ensure smooth clearance and facilitation of movement of people and goods.
The tax watchdog said there was relative congestion mostly of rigid trucks at Beitbridge Border Post due to ongoing customs law enforcement measures. According to the statement, cross-border bus operators and commercial truckers were now abusing the private imports facility. The facility makes it mandatory for every Omalayitsha to make a declaration and pay duty before they cross the border. There is no rebate applicable as these goods are unaccompanied by their real owners.
However, the huge number of false declarations as shown by the amount of revenue recoveries from each truck has resulted in 100 percent physical checks. The selling prices of these goods in South Africa is well known and so false declarations are easy to detect. When a client pre-clears, it does not mean they may not be subject to compliance checks.
The legislation provides for post clearance checks and these are based on risk. It should be noted that Beitbridge used to clear about 80 buses per day before Covid-19. The former bus operators have now joined the Omalayitsha and have replaced the buses with rigid trucks
Our mandate still remains to collect revenues for the Government and ultimately the nation. In instances where corruption, smuggling and illegal activities are occurring, Zimra will use its authority as provided for in the laws of the land to ensure that the nation is not prejudiced through revenue leakage.</blockquote>
ZIMRA recently announced they had surpassed their revenue target for the first half of 2020 by close to $6 Billion.
More: <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/zimra-increases-cargo-check-enforcement-at-border-post/">Chronicle </a>

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