Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) has noted that crime has started going up in the mining town since President Emmerson Mnangagwa released more than 4 000 criminals that include rapists from jails through Presidential Amnesty last month.

HLCC Acting Loss and Control Manager James Phiri released a memo encouraging the colliery’s workers to be extremely vigilant. It reads:

With the recent release of criminals from Zimbabwe prisons through an Amnesty, criminality in the community has started rising. We urge all employees and their families to observe the following all times:

• Do not leave any valuable belonging outside the house at night chairs, clothes on the washing line, shoes and horse pipes.
• Make sure all doors are locked and secured properly all the time.
• Do not rush to open the door when someone knocks, check through the window first and be sure it is someone you know before you open the door.
• Teach your children not to open the door to strangers.
• Train your children to stay indoors all the time or have an adult watching over them as they play outside the home.
• Train your children not to get “lifts” from strangers.
• Train your children to shout “help! help! help! when in danger or suspicion.
• Train your children not to use short cuts when coming back from school or going to school

Phiri warned employees against leaving their valuables such as phones or laptops with unknown people and also to report all suspicion with immediate effect to HCCL security.

Last month Mnangagwa ordered the release of 4 279 prisoners under a Presidential Amnesty.

According to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), a total of 4 166 men and 104 women were released from the country’s 47 main prisons and eight satellite prisons.

More: Pindula News