Chronicle Editor
A notorious copper cable thief, Tapfumanei Muzarabani (48) who stole copper wires valued at US$141 000 was on Wednesday sentenced to 31 years imprisonment. Muzarabani who was arrested following an intensive two-week police operation in Bulawayo, was convicted of four counts of copper theft.
He was sentenced to 10 years for each of the three major counts and one year for the fourth count. Muzarabani will, however, serve an effective eleven years imprisonment after the court ordered the three major counts to run concurrently. It is our hope that Muzarabani’s sentence will act as a deterrent to those that want to vandalise critical public infrastructure. Zimbabwe is spending millions of dollars every year to replace vandalised public infrastructure.
President Mnangagwa has described as treasonous the increased cases of vandalism that the country is witnessing. He has since directed stakeholders in the criminal justice system and communities across the country to work closely to bring these acts of sabotage to an end.
President Mnangagwa has said he is concerned by the increasing cases of vandalism of key infrastructure because such acts of sabotage are disrupting service delivery in many sectors of the economy.
He said there is a need for deterrent sentences hence he directed stakeholders in the criminal justice system to work closely with the communities in order to come up with appropriate punishment for those convicted of vandalism.
The courts have taken heed and are passing deterrent sentences to those convicted of vandalism like Muzarabani. Vandalism of key infrastructure is disrupting power supplies, communication, mining operations, industrial production and transportation of goods, among other operations. In some cases, suburbs are going for weeks without electricity as a result of vandalism of transformers and theft of copper cables.
Vandals have been a menace at the Epping Forest and Rochester aquifer in Nyamandlovu where they are vandalising transformers and stealing copper cables. Epping Forest and Rochester aquifer supply water to Bulawayo. Government has pumped in more than US$20 million on drilling boreholes and putting up the electricity infrastructure, which include transformers at the aquifer.
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), which is one of the institutions that are spending millions of dollars every year to replace vandalised infrastructure, is now using drones to monitor and protect its infrastructure. According to technology expert Ms Jacqueline Ntaka, drones surveillance enables institutions to cover large areas with minimal human intervention.
She said drones provide a bird’s eye view, allowing for comprehensive monitoring of large areas that are difficult to patrol on foot. “Equipped with high resolution cameras and live feed capabilities, drones can transmit real- time footage to security personnel, enabling immediate response to suspicious activities,” she said.
We want at this juncture to implore institutions such as Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and TelOne to invest in drones as part of their strategies to fight vandalism.
Online Reporter