JOHANNESBURG — No one is safe from the rapists and criminals who hunt their defenceless prey in the no-man’s land between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
“The guma guma have no respect for human beings — no respect for lives.
“They are scavengers preying on the plight of destitute people, who flee their countries in a desperate bid to survive,” said Otto Gerner, one of the border area’s most colourful and controversial farmers.
Detailing how the guma guma run a reign of terror, rape and murders on both sides of the border in South Africa and Zimbabwe, Gerner said the local police in Musina and at Beitbridge feared these marauding gangs.
“I feel sorry for the black people living in the township on the outskirts of Musina, because they are also relentlessly delivered to the evils of the guma guma,” he said.
Gerner was recently brought in by the Limpopo Economic Development Council to assist in the upliftment of the town and its service delivery.
“It is so sad that some of these destitute people are eaten by crocodiles in the river after being robbed, raped and stripped of everything they own — including their shoes — by the guma guma as they try to cross the river,” Gerner said.
The guma guma live in a deep gorge, just west of Beitbridge, in no-man’s land. “Believe me, nobody is prepared to go in there after them,” said Gerner.
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According to him, the guma guma originated from street kids scavenging around the border post. They were abused by truck and taxi drivers. In some cases, they became sex slaves.
Growing up in unthinkable hardship, the street kids started organising themselves into gangs, to the point they have become a notorious criminal force to be reckoned with.
They rule the territory from the border post to Musina and at the illegal crossings through the river at night.
South African police have established a special task team operating within a 10km radius around the Beitbridge border post investigating criminal activities of the guma guma, said Limpopo police spokesperson, Lt-Col Ronel Otto.
“We also take part in joint operations with the military, Sars (South African Revenue Authority) and other departments in this regard,” she said.
“For the period February 26 up to the end of April, a total of 26 suspects have been arrested for alleged guma guma criminal activities.”
Gerner said most of the guma guma are recognisable from scars and bruises on their bodies and faces from their earlier days, when they suffered abuse as destitute street kids.
“I would describe them as survival fighters,” he said. He was approached by the border town’s local council to help bring the traditional white community closer to the governing body.
“I was asked to forge a bond of co-operation between the whites and the council, closing the political divide between the two groups,” he said.
