Chidhumo & Masendeke: Destiny Partners In Crime(s)
As was the norm, I was doing what I did best… playing hard in the mud but on this day something seemed off and I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a day I sorely regretted that I walked to school and stayed to close to Chikurubi, not that close but close enough. I really don’t know whether it was just in my head but I swear the atmosphere was tense, the sky was overcast it almost seemed like the Heavens were mourning and to make it worse army helicopters hovered up above our unsuspecting heads.
I was too young to understand much but when I heard the maid and the gardener saying in hushed voices, “Chidhumo atiza kujeri kuChikurubi” (Chidhumo has escaped from Chikurubi Prison) man oh man you can not begin to understand. Now Chikurubi Maximum Prison is an infamous correctional facility where hardcore criminals are erm “corrected.”
The maid and gardener started discussing about how Chidhumo might have sought refuge in neighboring hoods like Mandara and Greendale, that’s why there were helicopters out and about on the lookout, I was shoook to the core. I just started thinking about the 5 minute walk to Courteney Selous and all of a sudden it felt like that 5 minute walk was the longest ever, like as if the minute I would step out of the gate I would be heading to the gallows cause apparently neither Chidhumo nor Masendeke valued human life, whether young or old if they just decided you didn’t deserve to live hey they would take your life within the snap of a finger.
I was so scared, I have never been afraid of a person I have never met like that, you would think they broke out to specifically find me lol. Needless to say, the cops worked overtime to find Chidhumo cause prison break what?! from Chikurubi what?! And apparently it wasn’t the first prison break, the duo and friends once escaped from a prison in Masvingo (where they met) and forced the prison guards into cells and ran. Then Chidhumo was caught and taken to Chikurubi and Masendeke was carrying out hideous crimes alone, now as a one man band he was dangerous now imagine when they were together the damage!
So while Masendeke was doing the most in the streets, Chidhumo escaped from Chikurubi with 3 other accomplices of which one was a former soldier and the other an ex police officer,sigh! Then he caught up with Masendeke, now imagine all the crimes Masendeke was carrying out alone whilst Chidhumo was doing time, Chidhumo must have felt left behind as if he had a backlog of criminal activities he had to catch up to, so together they carried out some atrocious crimes. Thank God Masendeke was then captured in Mozambique after the police had launched an operation titled “Operation Masendeke” sidenote: (I didn’t know it was actually a thing to have these operations I thought Operation Murambatsvina was the mother of all operations but clearly they started this thing kudhala, cause there was also Operation Chipo Chiroorwa looooool I think I need to do a blog post about these operations cause yeah) anywhoo a few weeks later Chidhumo was then also captured in Mozambique.
The interesting thing is it took the cops 29 days to find Chidhumo after his Chikurubi prison break. They really worked over time and were committed, I wonder if they still work with the same finesse. Anyway I don’t know why I find the story of Chidhumo and Masendeke intriguing to be honest with you, I have always had some kind of fascination since the day my maid told me that they had been captured and were going to be hanged, wow! Firstly I didn’t know they did that in Zimbabwe and secondly when you take someone’s life, are you as the hangman not equally as guilty as the accused person you are hanging cause whether you are getting paid (job) or doing it for free (criminal) you still killed someone and how do you live with yourself, do you just say, “oh but they were notorious criminals I am just doing my job surely God will understand?” (blogpost loading hehehehe) like do you make a career out of it, how long are you in business for, do the prisons ask for recommendations before they allow you to hang someone? I mean what are you even recommended on…skill, time taken, heart lol like what? I know they get paid sheets of money for sure but do they not go crazy at some point hearing those voices of people screaming as their heads are separated from their bodies? As a christian can I do it, I mean it might be the breakthrough I need in my life imagine if they are paying USD10,000? I would burn and spin that money straight up!!! Would I be judged harshly, after all the Bible says we should submit to authority so if authority says do it who am I to say no? I just wonder….
I find it even more interesting that Chidhumo and Masendeke’s names are always mentioned together as if they had always known each other and yet in actual fact they met in 1995 and till 1997 they did the most lol.
It’s interesting how you can meet someone in the most unlikely place and in a short period of time do great things that will be spoken of to infinity and beyond. I am sure like every normal human being they had goals and dreams and theirs were in line with being successful criminals and when they met it was probably like destiny. When you meet someone with the same mind as yours, nothing and I mean nothing can come between your dreams and realising them not even a maximum prison lol
I hope you find your destiny partner and do great things (all good I hope) together…..
