Online Reporter
Christopher Nyika
WHAT does the Good Book say about stealing—or in this case—smuggling empty buckets? That’s the question echoing across Beitbridge after an apostolic sect woman was caught red-handed trying to sneak a truckload of cheap plastic buckets and drums across the Limpopo River.
Yes, buckets. Not gold. Not fuel. Buckets!
Beauty Chauke (26) of Mbedzi suburb, dressed in her snow-white apostolic robes and probably humming a hymn, was busted by alert security forces under Operation No to Cross Border Crimes Phase 19. She claimed she was fetching water for a church function, but the “holy water” turned out to be a truckload of contraband containers.
According to the officer commanding Beitbridge, Chief Superintendent Mesuli Ncube, Chauke was caught with 130 x 20-litre buckets, 100 x 5-litre buckets, and 120 x 50-litre drums, all empty but suspiciously imported from South Africa under the cover of darkness, on 22 October 2025.
“Instead of preaching salvation, she was preaching smuggling,” joked an officer at the scene. “Even the angels must have been shaking their heads.”
To make matters worse, she was joined by Rutenda Charezva (41) of Dulibadzimu, who tried her luck with a bale of 50 blankets. The pair were quickly marched to Zimra Beitbridge Border Post, where their “loot” worth R10 500 was seized.
What puzzles everyone is why a church woman would risk arrest for buckets that cost a dime a dozen at any China Shop in town. Surely, if you’re going to sin, at least make it worthwhile?
“It’s sheer waste of sin,” muttered a resident who witnessed the arrest. “If she was smuggling gold, we’d understand. But empty buckets? Come on!”
Authorities say the festive season crackdown is tightening and no one—saint or sinner—will escape the law.
As Beitbridge braces for more cross-border shenanigans, Sister Chauke’s unholy hustle will be remembered as one of the most laughable smuggling attempts ever—a holy woman caught with her faith in one hand and a bucket in the other.
