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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A 79-year-old man from Kamativi has his age to thank for a non-custodial sentence after a magistrate spared him jail for illegally reconnecting electricity to his house.
Solomon Siboya Nyathi residing of Kamativi Compound, had electricity disconnected at his house in 2013 over a $558 bill.
He illegally reconnected power and was discovered in October this year, resulting in his arrest.
He pleaded guilty to illegally reconnecting electricity when he appeared before Hwange magistrate Mrs Rose Dube.
The magistrate fined him $100 or two months in jail. In addition, she ordered Nyathi to clear the debt as soon as possible.
Nyathi, however, courted the ire of the court when he pretended to be confused while in the dock.
“Stop trying to make a mockery of this court by pretending not to understand. You want to hide behind your age yet you were able to perform a complex task of reconnecting electricity. Don’t make us fools,” the magistrate lashed at Nyathi.
Asked why he committed the crime, Nyathi said: “we were being overcharged because our meter was faulty. Their electricity is expensive and I suspect these boys must be estimating meter readings.”
Prosecuting, Ms Lindiwe Maseko told how a Zesa electrician disconnected power at Nyathi’s house in 2013.
“In the year 2013 Zesa disconnected electricity at Nyathi’s house over a debt of $558,” said the prosecutor.
She said Nyathi didn’t bother to pay but reconnected the power by-passing the meter.
“On October 1, 2016, Mr Daniel Sithole from ZETDC went to the house on routine check and discovered that the house had been illegally reconnected as Nyathi had by passed the meter,” said Ms Maseko.
The prosecutor said Nyathi was using electricity for commercial and domestic purposes.
The amount ZETDC was prejudiced couldn’t be established since the meter was by-passed.
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