Underpaid and ill-equipped police are failing to deal with the sudden increase in serious crime and have instead resorted to warning the public to be wary of armed robbers.

At the weekend, an armed gang broke into the Harare home of a Cabinet minister and pistol-whipped her doctor husband before ransacking the home.

Dr Mushonga [firstname unknown] was at home when the armed gang struck, but his wife, Pricilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the minister of integration and international co-operation, was out of the country.

The brazen thieves stole the minister’s official car – a Toyota Prado, several cellphones and a small amount of cash, US150. Dr Mushonga was left for dead with head injuries.

Police have warned city dwellers not to keep large amounts of hard currency in their homes.

Zimbabweans are wary of local banks and prefer to keep their cash under the mattress.

Of late, armed gangs have become more brazen, robbing banks and attacking motorists and pedestrians in broad daylight.

The police said two badly injured people, thought to be street vendors, were found near Glen Nora township on Thursday. Both have died.

This week Augustine Mutanga, 30, a pastor of the Spirits Embassy Ministry, in Westgate, Harare, and his alleged accomplices will appear in the Chinhoyi Magistrate’s Court.