Prison Officer Arrested Over Convict’s Daring Escape From Plumtree Prison
A Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) officer has been arrested for allegedly helping a rape convict escape from Plumtree Prison.
Mike Cabangani Mathe, a well-known former businessman from Plumtree, managed to breach prison security, evade a police manhunt that included drones and gunfire, and flee to Malawi before being deported back to Zimbabwe and re-arrested.
Mathe (38) had reportedly caused terror in Plumtree before his first arrest. It is alleged that his escape was “bought and paid for” using a debt owed to him by a prison officer.
Yusufu Yusufu (47), a Plumtree Prison officer, appeared before Magistrate Joshua Nembaware on Wednesday, facing charges of assisting a prisoner to escape.
He was not asked to plead and was remanded to 20 March on $100 bail. He is being represented by Thutho Mavula, while Sheila Nyathi appeared for the State.
Nyathi told the court that sometime in 2025, while Mathe was serving a 20-year jail term for rape, he and Yusufu allegedly hatched a plan for his escape.
Yusufu is said to have provided Mathe with two hacksaw blades and instructions on how to cut through the bars of his holding cell window.
Over five days, Mathe reportedly cut through three bars while disguising the work as routine cell cleaning.
In the early hours of 15 November 2025, he made his escape, leaving the blades and severed bars behind.
He is said to have walked at night through dense bush, hiding in the mountains to evade capture, before eventually fleeing to Malawi, where he was found living as a fruit vendor.
