A convicted prisoner who escaped from Plumtree Prison while serving a 20-year sentence for rape has told a court that a Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) officer helped him plan and carry out the jailbreak.
Cabangani Mathe escaped from the prison on 15 November 2025 before fleeing to Malawi. He was rearrested on 24 February 2026 at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare after being deported by Malawian authorities.
Mathe made the allegations while testifying in the trial of ZPCS officer Yusufu Yusufu, who is charged with assisting a prisoner to escape from lawful custody. Yusufu denies the charge.
The trial is being heard before Bulawayo Regional Magistrate Taurai Manuwere. Yusufu is out on US$200 bail.
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Giving evidence, Mathe told the court that he had known Yusufu since childhood and had lent him US$2 000 in 2024 after the prison officer sought financial assistance to complete a building project.
“I am a businessman in Plumtree. I used to loan people money. In 2024, Yusufu came to me asking for US$3 000 to finish his building project. I only managed to lend him US$2,000,” Mathe testified.
He said they had initially agreed on a 40% interest rate before reducing it to 20% because of their longstanding relationship.
Mathe testified that after he was arrested in February 2025, he approached Yusufu seeking financial assistance to pay legal fees. Instead, he alleged, the prison officer encouraged him to escape from prison.
“He started telling me about how I was being treated in court and in prison, and how new allegations kept coming up. He suggested I escape and leave the country,” Mathe said.
According to Mathe, after they agreed on a US$300 top-up to the outstanding loan, Yusufu supplied him with two hacksaw blades and explained how to escape.
He alleged that Yusufu instructed him to volunteer to clean the prison cell, pour water on the floor to keep other inmates outside and recruit two inmates to stand guard while he cut through the burglar bars.
Mathe said it took him three days to cut the bars before informing Yusufu that everything was ready.
He further alleged that Yusufu advised him to flee to Namibia after escaping, although he later decided to travel to Malawi instead. He also claimed the prison officer identified the officer who would be on duty during the escape and advised him to remove the cell’s light bulb so fellow inmates would not witness him escaping.
“I managed to escape using that process, but I was later re-arrested. I am not saying this out of malice. I have no choice but to confess everything,” Mathe told the court.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Stanley Chinyanganyanga challenged Mathe’s credibility, arguing that his allegations were unsupported by evidence.
“The State witness has failed to give any evidence showing that he was indeed assisted by Yusufu. He has no track record that he loaned my client money, no record that he assisted him to hatch the plan, no evidence that the two had any form of relationship in the prison that could have culminated in Yusufu helping him to escape,” Chinyanganyanga submitted.
“The witness claims he had two inmates standing guard while he cut the burglar bars and that he paid my client US$300 as a top-up on an outstanding loan, but there is no evidence to substantiate any of these claims.”
Prosecutor Mufaro Ndirayire told the court that Mathe escaped from lawful custody in the early hours of 15 November 2025 by cutting through the burglar bars of his holding cell.
She alleged that he used two hacksaw blades supplied by Yusufu and that the blades were recovered after the escape. The court heard they would be produced as exhibits during the trial.
Following his escape, Mathe fled to Malawi, where he allegedly lived disguised as a street vendor before being arrested for entering the country illegally after failing to produce valid identification documents.
He was deported to Zimbabwe on 24 February 2026 and arrested on arrival at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) homicide detectives.
Mathe later appeared before a magistrate, was convicted of escaping from lawful custody and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
The trial was adjourned to 22 July 2026.
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