Heists, gangs and the Vumbunu web …The crimes and horrors that defined Byo in 2025
IN some ways, the most significant crime event in 2025 was one that occurred in 2024. From the beginning of the new year, Bulawayo was still reeling from the Ecobank heist of October last year, whose echoes continued to reverberate throughout 2025.
The Ecobank heist, in which US$4 million was stolen, continued to capture the imagination of people across the country. After all, such a historic crime, thought to be the largest of its kind in Zimbabwe’s history, does not simply vanish from the memories of an awe-stricken and imaginative population.
When the year began, many people had burning questions about what was still an unsolved heist. Who were the men who had executed such a brazen act of criminality in broad daylight? Did they have inside support? What had happened to the money they made off with? How were they spending it and with whom?
For most of 2025, the country’s law enforcement officers set about answering some of these questions. In July this year, police in both Zimbabwe and South Africa provided the first definitive answer when they arrested Elijah and Abraham Vumbunu, a pair collectively known as the Terror Twins.
Both men were already well known to the police, alongside their brother Tonderai, with law enforcement authorities previously naming Elijah among their seven most wanted criminals. Police said the brothers, originally from Mzilikazi, Bulawayo, lived mostly in South Africa and made forays into Zimbabwe to commit robberies.
“The due processes of the law are now taking effect for the suspects’ extradition to Zimbabwe. Police are still pursuing the arrest of other suspects who are linked to this case,” said Commissioner Paul Nyathi the National Police spokesperson.
After a robbery that took a total of 149 seconds to pull off, the Vumbunu brothers were finally brought home to face justice.
With the Vumbunu brothers now behind bars and awaiting trial for several crimes, some more than a decade old, the people of Bulawayo, Harare and Johannesburg could heave a sigh of relief that these men, whose work seemed the stuff of nightmares, were finally locked up.
However, this would not be the last time that a person bearing the Vumbunu surname would be on the lips of ordinary Zimbabweans. In October this year, it emerged that another member of the Vumbunu family, Sekai, had been indulging in a crime spree of her own, albeit on a smaller scale. Acting alongside one Florence Chisiri, Sekai had allegedly executed a US$36 000 robbery spree that shook Bulawayo’s underworld.
According to investigators, the suspects, both known illegal forex dealers, allegedly pulled off a daring early-morning raid at Nkolozi Investments, a bureau de change housed in the CIPF Building, where they posed as clients before fleeing with US$18 000 and R151 000.
The long arm of the law finally grabbed them on August 10 when, after robbing a restaurant patron at Fife Street and 12th Avenue and making off with US$4 000 and R60 000, police tracked down two of their alleged accomplices, Nehemiah Dladla (38) and Simon Dube (28), after a high-speed chase through Mbundane and Nketa 6.
This led to the arrest of Sekai and her partner in crime.
The arrest of Sekai led some to question how far crime extended within the Vumbunu family, as some of the Terror Twins’ close relations have been implicated in crimes over the years.
2025 was also the year in which the machete gang became a real threat in Bulawayo and its environs. While once upon a time, machetes were thought to be weapons of choice for armed thugs operating in some of the country’s illegal mining communities, in 2025, in the City of Kings, they became a reality on urban streets.
At various times during the year, Leeroy Sibanda (19) of Mzilikazi, Nkosilathi Dhlamini (25) of Nkulumane and Ntandoyenkosi Nyoni (35) of Cowdray Park were said to have ambushed unsuspecting victims along bushy pathways and isolated areas, threatening them with machetes, axes and knives before robbing them of cash, clothes and other valuables.
At the height of their crime spree, the trio became known simply as the Machete Gang, an infamous group that spread despondency and left many residents afraid to leave their own homes. Their attacks were brazen and their methods brutal.
After police caught up with the gang following their reign of terror in the suburb of Entumbane, they were collectively sentenced to 72 years in prison.
“The accused persons terrorised Entumbane residents to the extent that they became known as the ‘machete gang’. They deserve a lengthy custodial sentence, which should serve as a warning to other such gangs,” she said.
In recent years, any mention of crime in Bulawayo almost always includes a Hollywood-style daylight robbery that grabs the city’s attention.
Such a scenario unfolded at the corner of Robert Mugabe Way and 10th Avenue on May 11, where two armed robbers reportedly bundled up workers at Crystal Lounge and locked them in a room before ransacking the establishment and getting away with US$4 300. To cover their tracks, they locked the premises as they left, creating the illusion that the club, which also includes Zarah Lounge, was not yet open for business.
The drama-filled scenario, which could easily be mistaken for an action-packed movie scene, saw various police sections in Bulawayo springing into action on a Sunday morning, and the operation lasted beyond noon. This was only one of several armed robberies in the city, which again struggled with the menace of gun-related crime throughout the year.
State Media
