The Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi has said machete wielding miners will be shot on sight.

Ziyambi said government has told the police to shoot anyone found holding a machete at mining areas.

He was speaking while addressing the Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial inter-district conference in Chinhoyi. He said, “We are going to ban mabhemba in mining areas. We instructed police to shoot to kill those to be found with a machete, those arrested for possession of the weapon will not be granted bail.”

The government owned media has reported that hundreds of people have been killed across the country by machete-wielding gangs at gold-mining areas.

Latest investigations have revealed that the Mashurugwi gangsters attack not only artisanal miners but ordinary people going about their chores, robbing them of their possessions and sometimes leaving them for dead.+