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The late Shingai Dhliwayo

AIR Zimbabwe public relations executive Shingai Dhliwayo, 36, who was brutally murdered by unknown assailants in Botswana, will be buried today at Norton Cemetery. The mother of three’s body was found tied to a tree with her neck, feet and hands bound by a rope while she bled from the mouth indicating that she suffered a gruesome death at the hands of her killers.

A piece of cloth was also stuffed in her mouth. Dhliwayo had gone to Botswana at the end of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair for a personal business meeting which had to do with her events management company but disappeared as soon as she crossed the border.

Reports indicate that she only managed to phone her husband, Totizirepi, to tell him that she had met the people that she had travelled to see before her two mobile phones (a local number which was roaming and her Botswana number) were mysteriously switched off.

She was to spend a week missing with her family frantically searching for her before a herdboy found her body in a bush about five kilometres from the Ramokgwebana border post. A postmortem conducted by a Francistown pathologist in the presence of both Botswana and Zimbabwean police officers on Wednesday indicated that Dhliwayo was strangled to death. Her death has stunned the nation and her family who are still to come to terms with the incident.

So far investigations being conducted by a joint team of officers from Zimbabwe and Botswana are yet to yield anything conclusive but indications are that Dhliwayo was lured to Botswana under false pretences before she met her fate.

There are fears that there is a syndicate of criminals operating in both countries which entices unsuspecting people across the border into Botswana where it robs and kills them.

Police said several incidents have been recorded in the area where Dhliwayo’s body was found with criminals taking advantage of the area’s mountainous terrain to waylay and rob people.

So far investigations are centred around a man who is alleged to have been the middleman who lured Dhliwayo to Botswana under the guise of tying up a contract for her events and interior décor company.

Reports also indicate that the syndicate uses profiles of people’s businesses to arrange fake lucrative opportunities as bait before pouncing on the unfortunate victims. In Dhliwayo’s case, her killers must have planned her fate well in advance given the lengths they went to lure her all the way from Harare to Botswana. Her death must galvanise law enforcement agents on both sides of the border to scale up their activities in towns around the entry and exit points so that they can penetrate these syndicates of thugs and bring them to book.

We are appalled by the senselessness of Dhliwayo’s callous murder and commiserate with her family at this difficult time. We also call on authorities to move mountains to bring her killers to justice. It is clear that the murderers did not get much from killing her since some of her possessions like mobile phones were found at the scene but her murder also points to the emergence of a dangerous and organised gang of criminals who are prepared to commit extra-territorial killings.

What we find disturbing is that the Zimbabwe-Botswana border has generally been peaceful with minor crimes being committed by petty thieves on border jumpers and travellers between the two countries. The Beitbridge border post, on the other hand, is known for serious crimes committed by marauding gangs known as omagumaguma who terrorise illegal cross border jumpers by robbing, raping and sometimes killing them.

Over the years, police and other law enforcement agents have intensified their patrols along the Limpopo River but these criminals still thrive because of the sheer volume of people moving between the two countries. In contrast, the Plumtree and Ramokgwebana border posts have relatively been an oasis of peace and Dhliwayo’s death has shattered that tranquility and heightened calls to improve security.

We have every confidence in the competence of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and their Botswana counterparts and in due course, we expect to report on the arrest of the criminals who committed a heinous, callous and barbaric act.

By killing Dhliwayo, they not only extinguished the life of a committed Air Zimbabwe employee who served her nation so diligently but they also robbed her three young children and husband of a loving mother and wife. Our hearts go out to her entire family who are today burying a daughter whose life was ruthlessly cut short in its prime.
Rest in peace Shingi!