Chronicle Editor
Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
A BEITBRIDGE-based copper cables thief who was caught in the act by alert Zesa Holdings (Zesa) officers in Kensington, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, was sentenced to an effective 10 years in jail.
This comes as Zesa, through its subsidiary the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), has invited whistle-blowers to curb the upsurge in vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure in the last few months.
Kudzaishe Gwangwava (27) of Dulivhadzimu suburb in the border town was convicted of cutting, damaging, interrupting and interfering with copper cables in violation of a section of the Electricity Amendment Act12/2007 by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Sibongile Marondedze.
Prosecuting, Ms Concilia Ncube said on July 28 last year, the accused person, in the company of an accomplice Thulani Sibanda who is still at large hatched a plan to come to Bulawayo from Beitbridge to steal Zesa overhead copper cables in the Kensington area.
The two men drove to Bulawayo in a silver Honda Fit.
“On the same day at around 9PM, Zesa security personnel Mr Kanisio Sibanda who was in the company of Saul Dangirwa, were carrying out monitored patrols at Springs Farm in Kensington when they received a call to the effect that there was noise coming from electric cables, a sign that they were being tampered with,” said Ms Ncube.
The court heard that the two Zesa employees then carried out an investigation and at around 10PM, they spotted the silver Honda Fit parked in the bush near the power lines and they laid an ambush.
At around 2AM the following day, another team from Zesa unit patrolling overhead cables noticed the two accused persons who were gathering the cut copper cables into small rolls and upon noticing that they had been spotted, they both ran away into the bush.
Gwangwava ran back to his vehicle where he was arrested as he tried to open the car.
A search was conducted leading to the recovery of four rolls of copper inside the boot of the vehicle.
A bag with the accused’s clothes, driver’s licence and a bag belonging to the co-accused Sibanda as well as his passport and personal clothing were also recovered.
At around 6.30AM, the accused person led the team to the other scene where they had cut electricity copper wires and 11 rolls were recovered piled under a tree. Cables weighing 393kgs and valued at $7 860 were recovered.
In his defence, Gwangwava through his lawyer Mr Abraham Dickson of Tanaka Muganyi Law Chambers said he was never part of the scam but was hired to transport Sibanda to Masvingo and then they took a detour to Bulawayo.
— @mashnets
Online Reporter