Young Zimbabwean soldiers rampaged Harare on Monday, assaulting people and robbing their money and property amid a cholera outbreak and severe food shortages.

 “About 100 soldiers looking for foreign currency dealers in the outskirts of Harare, started beating up anyone in their way. People were intimidated by the soldiers and ran away from them,” says chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa - Zimbabwe and FRANCE 24 Observer Reyhana Masters-Smith after speaking to shopkeepers who had witnessed the scenes.

The first incidents took place near a bus station in the outskirts of Harare, then the soldiers dispersed into little groups around the city.  

According to Masters-Smith, the soldiers were very young and while they did not loot shops, nor used weapons, they  brutalized people, and took their money. Most shops closed down due to the clash.

According to a Reuters correspondent, hundreds of mostly young men then chased the soldiers in the capital as they chanted: "Beat up the soldiers." Later, Zimbabwean riot police fired teargas on Monday to disperse the youths, Reuters reported.

"They (the soldiers) just came here taking money from people and beating and harassing them," a woman who gave her name as Anna told Reuters.

In one incident, according to Masters-Smith, the soldiers stopped a woman who was driving out of a petrol station, forced her car and took all her possessions.

The origins of the rampage remain unclear. “There are so many frustrations in the army,” says Masters-Smith, “Soldiers lack food, and are dissatisfied with their salary.” Moreover, currency restriction mean that soldiers - like everbody in Zimbabwe - also spend hours queueing to get money, and sometimes without success.

The soldiers were reportedly looking for black market money changers to steal their money. Since the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar, a black market for foreign currencies, US dollars and South African rands has emerged.
 
The situation in Zimbabwe is very volatile due to chronic food and fuel shortages and an official inflation rate of over 230 million percent per year. Today, authorities are battling a cholera epidemic which has claimed 425 lives since late August.