Zimbabweans in mass jail-break rearrested

m as a rope to climb out of a prison window after breaking the iron bars. Don Mafingenyi our correspondent in Botswana said two of the escapees were captured at a hideout at Mopane, a peri-urban village 16 km north west of the capital Gaborone. The two had apparently sought refuge at a house were one of them use to live with his Zimbabwean girlfriend. ‘The girlfriend started acting in a strange manner, first she would keep the door to her room shut all day, then she would bring in groceries at night, plus some chores she didn’t do before the jail break,’ said Mafingenyi. The woman’s neighbours, knowing her links to one of the escapees, mmediately contacted the police with their suspicions. A swoop on the house by the police uncovered the fugitives. The other five were picked up from various parts of the country in a Massive operation that has seen the authorities using helicopters and fixed wing light aircraft to search for the fugitives. Magingenyi said the jail break has apparently aggravated tension between Zimbabweans and Tswanas in that country. ‘What we have now is a dangerous situation were authorities here look at every Zimbabwean as a fugitive, a thief or a murderer. Zimbabweans are right now moving around with their passports or identity documents just to prove that they are not prison escapees,’ said Mafingenyi. – Tichaona Sibanda, SW Radio Africa