Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka-Chisepo
Court Correspondent
EIGHT men, allegedly found transporting more than 90 kilogrammes of copper without the required documentation, appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mrs Jesse Kufa yesterday.
Pardon Tazivei, Rony Ruvinga, Rushmore Chigiji, Wesley Marekera, Samuel Gomo, Talent Ngara, Tinashe Gonda and Blessing Chikuwira are facing charges of contravening the Electricity Act.
The accused were remanded in custody pending their bail application.
Prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti alleged that on May 26, 2026, the accused persons conspired and hired a white Toyota Raider, then armed themselves with a generator and a grinding machine.
The court heard that the group travelled to Kadoma Paper Mills, where they allegedly used the equipment to cut copper bars, transformer bars, copper cables and other copper materials.
The suspects allegedly loaded the copper into the Toyota Raider and drove towards Harare.
Detectives from the CID Minerals, Flora and Fauna Unit (MFFU), Harare, reportedly received information from an informant that the accused persons were transporting copper from Kadoma to Harare without the necessary paperwork.
Acting on the tip-off, detectives intercepted the vehicle at the Norton tollgate. All eight accused persons were found inside the vehicle, with Tazivei driving.
The accused persons and the vehicle were escorted to CID MFFU Harare, where a search was conducted. Police allegedly recovered copper bars, transformer bars, cables, a generator and a grinding machine from the vehicle.
The accused persons were asked to produce licences authorising possession and transportation of the copper, but allegedly failed to do so, leading to their arrest.
The recovered property was seized as exhibits. The State further alleges that during questioning, Tazivei admitted that the generator and grinding machine had been used to process transformers and other scrap metal in Kadoma.
On May 27, detectives allegedly searched Tazivei’s residence and recovered a plastic bag containing cleaned copper in a spare bedroom. The recovered copper was weighed at the National Railways of Zimbabwe in the presence of the accused persons and was found to weigh 90 kilogrammes.
The cleaned scrap copper allegedly recovered from Tazivei’s residence weighed 3,5 kilogrammes. Weighing certificates were subsequently issued.
