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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) has condemned the recent detention of Zimdancehall chanter Shinsoman by a machete-wielding gang in Chegutu, calling on enforcement agents to increase security at public gatherings.

The musician last week relived his horrific experience at the hands of the gang. He said he was performing at a show in Chegutu, Mashonaland West province, when armed men forced him to sing a song for hours on end. 

“The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) would like to condemn the detention of musician ‘Shinsoman’ by armed men in Chegutu who are alleged to have forced him to sing one song for many hours for their enjoyment. The council would like to encourage enforcement agents in the country to increase their presence in public gatherings to avert such cases of abuse,” read the statement.

Chegutu is the same place where last week a group of men armed with machetes gang-raped and brutally killed an 80-year-old granny and her granddaughter (16).

In 2018, Zimdancehall musician Winky D could not finish a show at Solomon’s Hotel in Kwekwe after machete-wielding thugs threatened to besiege his show. He escaped through an emergency exit. Machete-wielding gangs have been making headlines over the past few weeks mostly for terrorising people, killing, robbing and fighting with law enforcement agents. 

Last week in Fort Rixon, a gang brandishing an AK47 besieged a village there. Late last month a police officer was bludgeoned to death, while his colleague was injured in an attack by machete-wielding artisanal miners who had invaded Good Hope Mine in Kadoma.