Harare (New Ziana) – Police said on Tuesday they had arrested a 20-year-old man believed to be behind a spate of killings of street children in the capital, Harare in recent weeks.

National police spokesman Paul Nyathi said Thhandolwenkosi Ndlovu is suspected of killing five street children Harare’s Central Business District between the 28th of August and the 4th of September this month.

A vagrant, Ndlovu is also suspected of committing similar murders in the country’s second city, Bulawayo in 2020.
“The suspect who is believed to be living in the streets would target ‘street kids’ who would be fast asleep and crush them and open the victims’ stomach to remove genitals and other body parts using empty broken bottles,” Nyathi said in a statement.

“The suspect would then boil or braai the human parts on any open fire place and consume them while in the Harare Central Business District,” he said.

He said on the 4th of September 2023, police detectives tracked the suspect along Rotten Row Road after he allegedly tried to attack a street kid who did not bother to make a police report.

On being arrested, Nyathi said the suspect was positively linked to five murder cases which occurred on the 28th of August 2023 at George Silundika Avenue and Simon Muzenda Street Harare, 1st of September 2023 at the corner of Inez Terrace Road and Robert Mugabe Road, Harare, 3rd September 2023 at the corner of Nelson Mandela Avenue and 7th street Harare and on 4th September at the corner of Cripps Road and Remembrance Road, Harare.

In Bulawayo, Nyathi said Ndlovu is suspected of links to three murders that happened in the city in 2020.
“The suspect has been linked to three murder cases committed in Bulawayo in 2020 where he crushed a victims’ head in Bellevue suburb using a brick after he found him drunk and asleep in his yard, in January 2020,” he said.

“In December 2020, he crushed a victim’s head in Makokoba suburb after finding him asleep by the roadside. He again crushed another victim’s head using stones at Sekhusile Shopping center, Nkulumane after finding him asleep on a pavement. He then fled to Harare.”

Nyathi said Ndlovu is also facing a charge of attempted murder and has a warrant of arrest for a robbery case which occurred in Milton Park, Harare in June 2021.

He added that the police have not found any evidence to link the recent murder cases committed by the suspect to ritual killings.

“The police assure the public that enquiries are still being conducted to find out the real motive behind the suspect’s conduct and if he acted alone or not,” he said.

New Ziana