Social media job promise ends in rape, robbery for Chitungwiza woman
By Auther Chimbgwa
A 30-year-old Chitungwiza woman, who sought employment through a social media platform, was both gang raped and robbed in Harare by two men who posed as her prospective employer’s agents.
The incident, police said, happened in Crowhill, Borrowdale in Harare on 22 June, 2025.
The woman was reportedly offered employment as a shopkeeper in Domboshova, outside Harare, by an unknown woman through WhatsApp.
In a post on their X handle, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) “warned the public against seeking for employment, other special services and private engagements through social media platforms especially with people whose identity is not checked or verified”.
“This follows cases of robbery and rape in which a 30-year-old Chitungwiza woman was robbed and raped after she was offered employment as a shopkeeper in Domboshava by an unknown woman through WhatsApp on 22 June 2025,” police said.
When the victim arrived at Mungate Business Centre in Domboshava, she was instructed to wait for someone to pick her up.
While at the bus stop, the hapless woman was approached by two male suspects who pretended to have been sent by her prospective employer to pick her up.
The suspects then took her to Crowhill purportedly to meet the employer only to find herself being raped and robbed.
This is not the first time a female job seeker has fallen victim to rape at the hands of persons who would have promised to facilitate employment for them.
Only recently, a fake employment agent, who lured his victims through false job promises before blindfolding and subjecting them to violent rape ordeals, was arrested and later sentenced to 80 years imprisonment.
Aaron Sanyamahwe (36), was handed 20-year jail terms each for four counts of rape by a Chitungwiza regional magistrates’ court.
The offender targeted vulnerable young women seeking employment posing as a fake “employment agent”.
Sanyamahwe, according to prosecutors, would then blindfold and force his victims to places where he would “strangulate and subject them to violent sexual assault”.
