John Sithole, the gunman, believed to be between 22 and 25
years old, is suspected to hail from Chipinge. He was also known as Kedha.
Police had been pursuing him for a number of armed
robberies in Beitbridge suburbs and along the major highways leading to Harare
and Bulawayo. He also committed crimes at the Limpopo River.
He holed up at a house in Beitbridge’s Dulivhadzimu suburb
and was eventually killed in a shootout when he tried to dash for freedom. Numerous
bullet holes in the door of Sithole’s hideout Kedha allegedly started a
diversionary fire in the house and tried to get away using the smokescreen.
Chronicle gathered that he masterminded his operations from
Musina in South Africa and would most of the time skip the border via the
Limpopo River. It took a Police Special Tactics Team (PSTT), an arm of the
Support Unit, to subdue the heavily armed Kedha.
During the fracas, Kedha allegedly shot and wounded a
detective on the arm. The town was at a standstill for more than eight hours
with cars and residents filling the nearby streets to witness the shootout,
albeit from a safe distance behind a police cordon.
Literally hundreds of people were held spellbound by the
rare hostage situation. Curious onlookers gathered near the scene of the
shootout. According to neighbours, Kedha had been staying at the house for two
weeks.
“I was terrified to hear the sound of heavy gunfire in the
middle of the night behind my house. When I went out to investigate I saw
police armed to the teeth in my yard and there were already some spent
cartridges.
“The police calmed people’s nerves when they told us they
were pursuing a dangerous armed robber next door,” said Ms Rumbedzani Ribombo.
The police moved civilians out of the way and tried to
engage Kedha who allegedly threatened to shoot his hostages if they tried to
storm the house.
National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul
Nyathi said it was unfortunate that someone had died and advised suspects to
always avoid shootouts or avoid engaging in life-threatening violence when the
police try to arrest them in a civil manner.
“It is sad that the suspect died. We wanted to question him
to clear a number of armed robbery cases,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
“Initially the suspect evaded arrest at the Limpopo River
and hid at his rented house in Dulivhadzimu where he was found by our
detectives.
“Since he was armed, they ordered him to surrender but he
turned violent and held 10 people from the house hostage and opened fire at the
police. They tried all the civil ways available to make him surrender but he
was not relenting and kept firing until reinforcements were called from our
special tactics unit.”
The damage caused by Sithole’s diversionary fire. The said
the PSTT “amicably” freed the 10 hostages including Kedha’s wife and niece, but
he remained in combat mode. Asst Comm Nyathi said Kedha set fire on the house
and sought refuge in another room at the same time exchanging gunfire with the
police.
He said the team managed to kill him later in the afternoon
during a heavy exchange of gunfire and the body had been taken to the district
hospital’s mortuary. “As the police, we continue to implore suspects or people
to always comply with our officers as we enforce the law.
They must not take advantage of other people by holding
them hostage to evade arrest,” said Asst Comm Nyathi. He said further
investigations were underway.
According to one of the hostages, Mr Innocent Makuvasine
who stays at the house, he was awakened by gunshots.
“When the police arrived, they ordered everyone to put
their hands on the back of their heads and get out without switching off the
lights.
“That’s when the man (Kedha) started shooting at the
police. We failed to get out until the next morning when the police instructed
us to cover our faces with wet towels as they were launching smoke canisters,”
he said.
Continued Mr Makuvasine: “However, through the night there
was constant shooting between the man and the police, until his wife pleaded
with him to let her and the child leave the house. Everyone got out leaving him
alone in the house. The man is a new tenant. I had never met him.”
A distraught property owner, Mr Godfrey Muzvidziwa, said he
was at a loss for words.
“I only saw this guy once, according to his wife, he was
based in South Africa where he was employed. This is a great loss. I built this
house in 2000 and it will take me a very long time to fix the damage resulting
from the shoot out and the tenant burning my house,” he said in a very low
voice.
The incident comes a few weeks after the country’s most
wanted armed robber, Taj Abdul was arrested in the same town as he planned a
hit on a cross border trader with the aid of a serving policeman. Chronicle
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