Suburban
Suburban Reporter
HARARE residents have been urged to be on the lookout for robbers who are disguising themselves as people offering services such as carpentry, building and plumbing in the area.
Ward 16 resident Mr Denford Ngadziore said this is particularly taking place in community WhatsApp groups where the robbers pretend to be offering the said services but turn out to be thieves.
“We have experienced a surge in robbery cases in our community.
“I urge every household to be vigilant and participate in their local neighbourhood watch initiatives,” said Mr Ngadziore, a former Ward 16 Councillor.
Mr Ngadziore said Harare West MP Joana Mamombe and himself are engaging Zimbabwe Republic Police Mabelreign, the Mabelreign Crime Consultative Committee and all neighbourhood watches in efforts to raise awareness in various suburbs in the ward.
“As a community, we should always look for ways to find services with possible referrals.
“Due to the number of increased robbery cases, it is now recommended that there be a ward-wide skills audit to harness all requisite skills for the development of the ward.
“A skills database for all locals offering different services and skills will be compiled and shared to residents after verification processes by neighbourhood watch committees and the ZRP,” he said.
Mr Ngadziore urged residents to carefully vet the people they hire for various services.
“We should minimise allowing people into our households to do certain work without proper vetting and referral,” he said.
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Mr Ngadziore also urged every street to have a neighbourhood watch in order to curb crime.
“Additional support will be availed to set up neighbourhood watches in areas that do not have one.
“Also tips on the new tricks used by robbers will be shared to residents via neighbourhood watches and the Zimbabwe Republic Police,” he said.
Recently Ward 41 residents were also warned to be on the lookout for corn artists who are in residents’ social media groups where they target their victims by offering “too good to be true” deals involving the selling of foreign currency before defrauding victims of their money.
A security alert on the Ward 41 residents WhatsApp group posted by a resident Mrs Kudzai Kadzombe warned fellow community members against the corn artists who are in community groups and pretend to be wanting to sell foreign currency giving almost “too good to be true” rates and opportunities.
