Man Shot Dead During A Break-in At Home Of CIO Deputy Director
A man was shot dead during a break-in at the Harare home of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) deputy director Gatsha Mazithulela.
The incident took place at around 2 AM on Thursday at Mazithulela’s Crichton Road residence in the Groombridge area of Mt Pleasant, ZimLive reported.
The former National University of Science and Technology (NUST) vice-chancellor, who was appointed to the role in January 2020, was unharmed in the incident.
Neighbours said they woke up to the sound of gunfire, and before long the Mazithulela residence was swarming with police and security agents from various departments. One neighbour told ZimLive:
I heard there could have been three people who tried to jump over a perimeter wall, and one was shot dead. An ambulance arrived at around 3AM but the person didn’t make it.
Everyone around here seems to think the intruders were robbers because just hours before, there was an attempted break-in at a house on Maxwell Road nearby.
This is not the first security incident at the home of Mazithulela.
In November 2020, just months after his appointment, a CIO agent guarding his Matabeleland North farm drunkenly pointed a gun at him.
Mazithulela was leaving his farm in Norwood in Umguza at about 7 PM on November 28 when he observed Earnest Muleya, who was on guard duties at the property, staggering.
Suspecting the 38-year-old was drunk, Mazithulela demanded that Muleya hands over his AK-47 assault rifle which he was carrying. Instead of handing over the rifle, Muleya cocked it and pointed it at Mazithulela who ran and took cover behind his vehicle before making a dash for his house where he barricaded himself inside.
Mazithulela called the CIO’s regional headquarters at Magnet House in Bulawayo and agents were dispatched to the farm where they disarmed and arrested Muleya.
