Who will guard the guard?

The gunning down of three suspected armed robbers in Harare’s Chadcombe suburb on Monday brings to the fore the rising cases of armed robbers.

The hero is ex-detective Joseph Nemaisa who took on the five armed robbers that were holding his family hostage in a movie-style, according to his narration of the events.

In a shoot-out incident, three armed robbers were gunned down and two escaped but were apprehended yesterday by police following extensive investigations. Of the arrested suspects, one is a serving member of the Zimbabwe National Army while the other is an ex-constable.

The Monday incident also brought to the fore the involvement of serving and ex-security forces members.

As we rightly reported last week, serving and former members of the country’s security services are behind most of the armed robberies that have characterised everyday life in Zimbabwe. This is a frightening development.

In Chadcombe, one of the dead is a serving soldier, tallying with our front page story last week.

This comes after armed robbers have been wreaking havoc across the country in the past few months threatening to disrupt efforts by the government to grow the economy through the creation of a conducive business environment.

So sophisticated have been the armed robbers that they appear to be outsmarting the police with signals suggesting that they could be highly trained individuals.

The surge in the armed robberies comes as Zimbabwe is flooded with unlicensed guns prompting service chiefs to press the panic button.

Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe recently told a Zimbabwe Republic Police senior officers conference in Harare that the rise in cases of armed robberies was scaring away foreign investment in the country.

Kazembe said this was affecting government efforts to lure direct investment because the violent crimes were portraying Zimbabwe as an unsafe investment destination. As a result, Kazembe said, the economy will remain stagnant.

Monday’s shoot-out involved an AK47, an assault rifle which no other Tom, Harry or Dick can lay their hands on.

The weapon is the preserve of the security forces.  How the serving soldiers could still use the weapons for armed robberies remains a mystery? Do we have safeguards in place to ensure the ammunition is protected?

We have noted some police officers on the streets hitch-hiking on their way to surrender the weapons after they would have completed their assignment.

What if this officer is attacked by criminals for that weapon. These are the issues the government has to address. Zimbabwe is not in a war situation where armed officers roam the streets.

The involvement of security officers in armed robberies should be a cause for concern for authorities. The get-rich quick syndrome can morph into the creation of little warlords.