Binga man impersonates army official to fleece recruit

A SHOCKING case of deception unfolded in Lupane, where a 42-year-old Chegutu farm supervisor was caged 6 months for pretending to be a Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) officer and scamming a desperate recruit.

The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) in a statement on X, said “Timothy Ngulube (42) from Binga who is a farm supervisor in Chegutu was arraigned before the Lupane Magistrates’ Court facing fraud charges.

“It was the State’s case that on the 13 September 2024 at around 1400 hours the complainant met the accused person in Auction Bar at Lupane Business Centre in the company of the complainant’s cousin Mduduzi Nkiwane. The complainant eavesdropped the conversation between the accused person and Nkiwane about the recruitment schedules of the Zimbabwe National Army in Harare. The accused person identified himself to the complainant as one of the ZNA officers that had authority to facilitate recruitments in the army.

“The complainant showed interest and the accused person demanded US$200 to commence the recruitment process on behalf of the complainant. On the 16th of September the complainant gave the accused person US$50. The accused person then told the complainant to prepare to travel with him to Harare that same day in the evening. In the evening, the complainant kept contacting the accused person who kept postponing the departure time. The complainant reported the matter to the police, leading to the accused person’s arrest.”

Ngulube was sentenced to 6 months in prison, with 1 month suspended if he repays US$50.