Police in Harare recently launched out an operation called Operation Chikorokoza Ngachipere/No to Machete Gangs. As part of this operation some officers raided Mbare’s Siyaso hardware traders who are accused of supplying Machete gangs populary known as MaShurugwi with their machete weapons.

These sellers are said to have been making brisk business with some machete gangs from as far as Kwekwe, Kadoma and Shurugwi travelling making journeys from their bases of operations to come and stock up on the the trademark weapons that have become a hallmark of anarchy in areas where gold panning is prevalent.

Before the raid machetes were fetching a premium of $5-$10 USD at Siyaso. After the spate of raids by the police prices plummeted not only because the machete gangs stopped buying but ordinary people were now afraid to buy these useful tools for fear of being called MaShurugwi.

Information we have gathered is that some people were coming to buy machetes to protect themselves from attackers and that is why there was a huge demand for these weapons.
Some of the people were coming from mines to buy machetes in Mbare. The sellers would sell more than 20 machetes per day.
But when the operation was launched last week, the sales drastically went down as people were afraid of being found in possession of the machetes.
One person speaking to the Herald