A South African couple on a visit in Zimbabwe lost two digital cameras valued at R20 000 and three suitcases containing clothes, following an attack by a group of five armed robbers along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road.

The incident occurred on Monday, 3 December, at about 07:30, about 30km out of Beitbridge town.

Relating their ordeal to the Zoutpansberger, Mrs Marion Jansen van Vuuren, from Jeppestown in Gauteng, said they were coming from South Africa and heading to Harare. She was travelling with her husband, Leon, in their Nissan twin cab. "We had decided to park at a stop-over so that we could have some tea, when five men armed with knives and stones descended on us," she said.

The suspects pulled out knives and one of them stabbed Mrs Van Vuuren in the back, prompting her husband to intervene. The suspects then turned on him and attacked him severely until he lost consciousness.

"Soon after stabbing me in the back, they left me and started attacking my husband. He sustained severe head and arm injuries. They took our car keys, three suitcases containing clothes and two new Canon digital cameras, which we had just bought, and disappeared into the bush," said Van Vuuren. "Initially, we thought they wanted food but, surprisingly, they did not touch our food," she said.

The victims were then spotted by a Good Samaritan, who offered to drive them to Beitbridge where a report was made to the police. The two were taken to the Beitbridge District Hospital. When Zoutpansberger visited the hospital, a few hours after the incident, Mr van Vuuren was being attended to by doctors at an emergency room and he could hardly speak. His head was covered in blood and he was visibly in great pain as doctors frantically made an effort to treat him.

The local police confirmed the incident and said they were still investigating the matter.

"We have since launched a manhunt for the suspects and our police officers are out in full force. We hope the suspects will be arrested soon, as we have intensified the investigations,’ said local police spokesman Insp Tafanana Dzirutwe.

The incident comes barely two months after another South Africa tourist and two Harare men were robbed of their cell phones, ZW$180 million and an undisclosed amount in US dollars by three armed robbers at gunpoint. The incident occurred on the same highway. The three suspects have since been arrested.

Also this week, the body of an elderly businessman from South Africa, a family member of the Oosthuize-family from Louis Trichardt, was found in Zimbabwe. He disappeared a couple of months ago while visiting Zimbabwe. It is speculated that he was murdered for his vehicle. At the time of going to press, the circumstances surrounding his murder were still very unclear.

Of late, there has been an increase in the number of motorists being attacked along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road by armed robbers believed to be operating as a syndicate and targeting motorists. A local journalist, Roy Salatiel Muleya, was also recently attacked by armed robbers while taking a nap in his car.