Online Reporter
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
A 32-YEAR-OLD Mutare customs clearance runner accused of attempting to smuggle 204 tonnes of lithium ore to China through Forbes Border Post has been arrested and remanded in custody pending a bail application.
Simbarashe Shazha, of Greenside, appeared before Mutare magistrate, Mr Poterai Gwezhira yesterday facing two counts of attempted export and export of unbeneficiated base mineral ore, as defined under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and the Base Minerals Export Control (Unbeneficiated Base Mineral Ores) Order, 2023.
Ms Deliwe Masibhera represented the State, while Mr Nyasha Mukonyora, of Gonese and Ndlovu Legal Practitioners, appeared for the accused, who was remanded in custody to August 12.
The court heard that Shazha, who had allegedly fled to Mozambique after his accomplices were arrested, was apprehended on Thursday upon his return to Zimbabwe.
Ms Masibhera alleged that sometime in May, Shazha, acting in connivance with Tsitsi Manyumwa, a co-director of Kunshan Mineral Consultancy, and a Chinese national, Li Dewen, who is still at large, hatched a plan to fraudulently export lithium ore to China via Forbes Border Post.
“Between May 15 and 17, Manyumwa procured six haulage trucks to collect cargo containers from MSC for loading with lithium ore warehoused at CEVAFRICA Logistics Zimbabwe in Harare. The trucks then proceeded to Forbes Border Post, with the intention of crossing into Mozambique for onward transmission to China. On May 20, at around 5am, two of the trucks arrived at Forbes Border Post carrying the lithium ore,” said Ms Masibhera.
It is alleged that Shazha approached drivers Peter Duri and Philip Majada and handed them export documents and ZIMRA road manifests declaring the containers empty.
However, ZIMRA officers at the exit point became suspicious after noticing the containers were sealed and verified the load. The drivers allegedly admitted they were carrying lithium ore, leading to the seizure of the trucks.
Ms Masibhera further told the court that Majada was found in possession of a Mozambican Transit Declaration Form indicating he was transporting lithium to Beira, contradicting the ZIMRA manifest.
Investigations by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission revealed the two trucks were part of a six-truck convoy ferrying lithium ore to Beira en route to China. Four trucks abandoned the exit queue and returned to Harare after realising the operation had been compromised.
Two containers were later recovered at a car park near Glen View One Government Primary School in Harare on June 18, while another truck, AFJ 0511/ABN9751, transferred its container to a different haulage truck in Msasa on May 28.
The reloaded truck allegedly proceeded to Mutare, where Shazha is accused of supplying its driver, Rodrick Macheke, with fraudulent export documents on June 4. Macheke allegedly used the documents to exit Zimbabwe on June 6.
A fourth truck, AGJ 3321, was intercepted in Goromonzi and taken to BAK storage, where it was seized.
The State further alleges that Shazha and Manyumwa cloned an expired Bikita Minerals (Pvt) Ltd and ZimAlloys Chrome export permit for petalite concentrate to facilitate the smuggling.
