Dar in a panic as brutal gangs terrorize its suburbs

Dar es Salaam. People living and doing business in suburbs of Dar es Salaam are living in great fear following a surge in high-level crimes including murder.

Youth gangs break into homes, commit armed robbery and other forms of violent crimes,  causing concerns to shop owners and households.

Many who resisted have either been killed or sustained permanent disabilities when groups of armed gangs stormed homes or businesses.

What worries most about this trend is the impunity with which the criminals are robbing people of their properties and the poor  police response.

Some say it is a sign of an overwhelmed police force.

Spot check by The Citizen on Sunday show areas such as Mbezi Juu, Madale, Goba, Mbagala, Bunju, Tegeta and some parts of Tabata are notorious for the incidents.

There were shocking tales of armed robbery incidents and thefts when this paper visited some of the suburbs to establish security situation on the ground.

The shooting to death of  24 year-old shop seller Akilimali Jonathan at Mbagala Chamazi, and a similar murder of Godlisten Urio at Mbagala Rangi Tatu are the tip of the iceberg as far as crime in suburbs is concerned.

The attack by machete-brandishing gangsters of Mr Ali Masunga of Mbezi Juu who is nursing serious wounds at his home tells of hundreds of similar attacks to people living in Dar es Salaam suburbs.

Akilimali Everest, 24, was selling items in a shop on September 27 at Mbagala Chamazi when armed robbers struck and demanded to be given all the money he had.

They shot him in the chest and ransacked the shop before they sped on a bodaboda. Everest died three days later at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH).

The shop owner, Mr Baraka Jonathan, says police came at the scene a day after the incident, and since then nothing has been done.

“Frankly speaking, security situation in our area is poor. Gangsters strike anytime in our houses and businesses,” says Mr Jonathan.

He says in most of such incidents, police intervention has always been too late and too little. Moreover, he laments, little is done to investigate the cases and bring culprits to book.

Another shocking story is that of Mr Ali Masunga who suffered serious head injuries after he was attacked by armed robbers.

In four days, young gangsters stormed his house twice. In the first incident, October 23, they chased robbers who had broken a window and stole a radio, speakers and other household belongings.

While still contemplating how he could enhance security at his home, the gangsters came four days later, attacking him mercilessly with machetes and iron bars.

On October 27, Mr Masunga arrived at his Mbezi Juu home around 10;00 am, parked his car and went to open the door of his house.

He had not even stepped into his house when  a group of four young men holding machetes and an axe, suddenly surrounded him.

“I shouted for help and three more gangsters came to attack me. I tried to resist but they attacked me with machetes and hit my head with a heavy object, leaving me lying unconscious,” says Mr Masunga.

Speaking with The Citizen on Sunday just a week after he was discharged from MNH where he spent nearly a month, Mr Masunga says the armed robbers threatened to shoot neighbours who came to help him. The bandits stole many things before they fled.

Mr Masunga suffered a fractured skull and deep machete wounds. In what could be telling the magnitude of crimes in suburbs, thieves invaded his home again and vandalised his car when he was in hospital.

“There are so many such incidents in the areas these days. It is almost becoming the order of the day to hear such attacks because we do not have even a police post at this area,” Mr Masunga says as he held his seven-month- old baby.

He associates the spate of crime in his area with the lack of the police post. The nearest police station is at Kawe or Mbezi Garden, about seven kilometres away.

Just a few blocks away from Mr Masunga’s home is another victim of armed robbery in Dar suburbs, Ms Dorcas Mwanuzi, 34.

Late last month, three men, hiding a shotgun in a plastic bag stormed his business and ordered her, her husband and a customer to lie, with their faces facing down.

“One of them pointed a gun at us while two others went inside my shop and collected several mobile phones which were on sale, three pouches, Sh1.4 million and two ignition keys of our vehicles,” she narrates in pain at her Goba kwa Ndambi business.

After the robbery, the gangsters went on a robbery spree of about 10 other shops.

“I now live in great fear. I’m afraid of anyone coming to buy things  after sunset,” Ms Mwanuzi says.

Today, Ms Mwanuzi closes her shop at 6pm for fear of attacks instead of 10pm she used to do.

Three other businesspeople  say they were also robbed of their properties around the area where Ms Mwanuzi’s shop is located the day the gangsters struck.

Pronet Massawe, 18, who runs an M-Pesa kiosk at Mbezi Tangi Bovu was last month robbed of his properties including millions of shilling at gun point.

He was closing the business when four men riding on a bodaboda arrived with a pistol, dragged him inside the shop and collected valuables and Sh6 million. They shot into the air as they fled.

“It took so long for  police from Kawe to respond. We are doing business in fear because these people can strike anytime,” says Mr Massawe.

The Citizen on Sunday has also established that robberies at gunpoint in M-Pesa shops are also common in Bunju, Tegeta and Mbezi.

The family of Mr Emmanuel Urio still remembers September 5 last year when armed bandits invaded their wholesale shop at Dar es Salaam’s Mbagala Rangi Tatu suburb.

They arrived on a motorcycle armed with a pistol and an axe; they went straight to the counter and demanded to be given cash.

Mr Urio’s younger brother, Godlisten, 22, was outside the shop unaware of what was taking place inside. When he tried to get into to the shop, one bandit shot him into the chest and died instantly.

“They killed my younger brother for no apparent reason. He wasn’t even aware they were bandits and he was coming in to pick some goods for a customer,” Mr Urio says.

Yesterday, Dar es Salaam police chief Suleiman Kova said the problem of crime in the suburbs was being blown out of proportion and that the police had recorded significant success in recent times to fight it.

He said few incidents occurring in some parts of the city should not mean that the crime rate was alarming.  “In a big city like Dar es Salaam you cannot expect to be completely quiet. This is a busy city.”

Mr Kova insisted that what was happening did not reflect the actual situation and that strategies to identify and arrests criminals were paying off.

“It is very unfair to generalise and tell people that the security situation is bad. We should be appreciating what the police are doing to prevent and combat crime in the city,” he said.

He called on the residents to form community policing groups to reduce crimes.