How tech can help nail Munatsi killers

IT is almost one and half years since the mysterious death of Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida) chief executive officer, Douglas Munatsi (pictured).

But the nation has not been updated on circumstances around the death of a man who led one of Zimbabwe’s most important institutions.

Zimbabwe and potential investors have been hoping to know what transpired before, during and after his death.

Apart from his role at Zida, Munatsi was an ex-banker, a farmer and real estate mogul. By now investigations should have been completed. These should have been carried a senior police officer.

While we wait for an update from law enforcement agencies, there remains many questions to be answered in terms of the technology that was around him, and possible suspects.

If indeed Munatsi was murdered, as speculated, with mobile artificial intelligence technology, there should be is nothing like, “a perfect murder” anymore.

If he was indeed murdered, the criminals will definitely be caught.

Today, technology might be unable to stop crimes, but it has significantly increased the probability that criminals can be arrested and punished. Technology has changed the way crimes are committed, and how police investigate.

Our law enforcement agencies should have built digital evidence and recreated what led to Munatsi’s death.

In Zimbabwe there is growing emphasis on digital evidence, which is mostly handled by the Zimbabwe Republic Police cyber lab.

At the time of his death, Douglas was staying at an expensive apartment.

The average price for that type of apartment is over US$1 million.

It has CCTV and security guards, who record visitors.

It is a block of apartments located opposite close to the President’s residence, which is guarded by armed soldiers.

In this case, CCTV footage should have been a useful tool for investigations.

CCTV would capture who came to the apartment and who left the property.

Technological solutions like mobile phone records and social media tend to beeffective in solving homicide cases.

Munatsi’s smartphone site analysis would be vital as it would help locate where he had been and who he was with at the time of his death.

Our smartphones are always with us.

So, if investigators had taken Munatsi’s smartphone, it would have been a treasure trove of evidence that was needed to solve this case.

Social media also plays a role in many such cases.

People are using their smart phones to take photos and send them to family members.

This could help to solve the identity of individuals who were with Munatsi.

That is where our detectives really should have gone and comb through social media platforms for evidence. Surveillance evidence and the technology really ended up linking other people to the crime that were either there or involved.

But just because our smart devices are providing evidence in criminal investigations does not mean such evidence will be admissible in Zimbabwe’s court, according to the Data Protection Bill.

Digital evidence is not just creeping into criminal investigations.

It is already making an impact in suits.

Zimbabweans are reporting social media abuse and physical abuse using their digital evidence.

Courts are likely to struggle with the increase in digital evidence, at least initially.

There is a lot of controversy about collecting data from personal devices of incivil dividuals, or company-enabled devices, which is included in the Data Protection Bill. There are more data privacy concerns, collections concerns, possession, custody and control concerns.

Using digital evidence collected for today’s internet of things, which includes his CCTV, smartphone, social media communications and smart car, law enforcement agencies will be able to put together how Munatsi lost his life.

Technology has become part and parcel of today and future investigations.

It should be leading the process in the much-anticipated update on the Munatsi investigation. Let’s build confidence in our investment environment and revile how Munatsi lost his life in November 2021.