A Zimbabwean man who was found guilty of raping 21 women in a two-year housebreaking spree was sentenced Tuesday to 290 years imprisonment.

Magistrate Simon Kachambwa convicted Thomas Chirembwe, 30, of 21 counts of housebreaking and rape in the capital Harare.

Prosecutor Michael Reza alleged Chirembwe broke into various houses in Harare and raped as many as 30 women between September 2011 and November last year.

"He moved around with an iron rod, a knife, spanners and his manhood in his trousers," Reza said.

The man prosecutors branded "a one-man urban terrorist" had 60 years of the sentence suspended because he did not have any prior convictions.

The magistrate also asked police to investigate and arrange for witnesses to testify in the nine other suspected rape cases.

Chirembwe allegedly spared two of his victims when one of them fell on her knees and began to pray and the other said she was HIV-positive.