The Sunday News
Mthabisi Tshuma, Sunday News Correspondent
POLICE have said cases of housebreaking are on the decline in Bulawayo since the start of the lockdown period in March.
In an interview on Friday, Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said there has been a decrease in housebreaking cases in April and May.
“I cannot divulge the official statistics but what I can say is that the trend of housebreaking cases is coming down because from January it was a 26 percent increase and in February it was 19 percent compared to last year. The lockdown came into effect at the end of March and we
recorded a 14 percent increase by then but in April we had an eight percent decrease,” said Insp Ncube.
Insp Ncube said of the cases recorded, the thieves were targeting anything they can resell.
“We are realising that these people are taking anything that they see valuable and they can sell. These household goods include electrical gadgets, cellphones and food. Cash is also a target so they target properties,” he said.
Insp Ncube urged the public to secure their property and to stay on the lookout for suspicious activity.
“We are encouraging vigilance from members of the public, that is to say, a community should be aware and work with the police to know new faces in their vicinity because these people do scouting during the day and strike during at night. Even if they find former employees in an area they should be worried and update police on patrol on such movements so that we can catch them before they commit these offences or as soon as they attempt,” said Insp Ncube.
Insp Ncube commended members of the public for continuing to assist police through co-operating and volunteering information.
“We want to applaud members of the public as we are working with them very well through being able to clear a lot of cases as seen where in a week we are arresting the thieves and clearing at least 30 reported cases per week. In one arrest we can account to more than 20 cases linked to the accused who work with police to also catch the syndicates behind the housebreaking cases,” said Insp Ncube. @mthabisi_mthire.
