THE government’s decision to extend a national firearm amnesty from September 24 to October 24 is a step in the right direction.
Citizens are being urged to hand in unlicensed or illegally acquired guns without fear of prosecution.
The message is clear: Zimbabwe must disarm before violence spirals out of control.
National police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi is right — unlicensed firearms are increasingly being linked to armed robberies, murders and other violent crimes.
Too often, guns remain in circulation long after their original purpose has vanished: a company has closed, a gun club has collapsed or the rightful owner has passed on.
In the wrong hands, these weapons become tools of terror.
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The rise in armed robberies across Zimbabwe is no coincidence.
Guns are proliferating, and so is violent crime.
We have already seen the consequences.
In recent months, armed gangs have struck with chilling precision, leaving death and trauma in their wake.
Prominent businessman Joseph Mutangadura was gunned down while asleep in his Ruwa home — a life cut short in the supposed safety of his bedroom.
Elsewhere, commuters have been attacked in broad daylight, with robbers brandishing pistols as if they were toys.
The spike in such cases shows how guns have slipped beyond State control and into criminal networks.
If we fail to act now, Zimbabwe risks sliding into the dark paths walked by Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and even the United States — countries where gun violence has become a national plague.
But let us be clear: an amnesty alone will not solve the problem.
Guns do not multiply on their own; they flow through porous borders, corrupt systems and weak enforcement.
They are also sustained by deepening poverty and unemployment, which drive desperate young men into the ranks of armed gangs.
The State must, therefore, go beyond amnesty.
It must strengthen border control, tighten licensing systems and dismantle the syndicates supplying illegal weapons.
Above all, it must tackle the root causes of violent crime — joblessness, hunger and hopelessness.
But here is the problem: ordinary Zimbabweans are being asked to surrender weapons while the real gun runners — often politically connected and protected — continue to operate with impunity.
This is where credibility collapses.
Illegal guns have infiltrated our neighbourhoods.
Families live in fear, businesses are under siege and commuters face armed gangs.
Yes, illegal guns fuel crime. But what fuels the illegal guns?
Porous borders, corruption in State institutions and a political elite that has historically armed itself and its allies when convenient.
For years, guns have been symbols of power in Zimbabwe, not just tools of crime.
Unfortunately, the same ruling party that today preaches disarmament once thrived on violence, militias and intimidation.
That legacy has not disappeared.
If this amnesty is to be more than a public-relations stunt, then government must prove that no one is above the law.
Let us see politically connected figures, security chiefs and business cartels also surrendering their unlicensed weapons.
Let us see genuine investigations into the networks that supply these guns, not just the arrest of desperate youths at the bottom of the chain.
Otherwise, the message is hollow.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to become a gun State.
Security must not be left to luck or chance.
The government has a duty to act decisively, before our streets turn into battlefields and ordinary citizens pay the price of neglect.