Online Reporter
Peter Matika
WHAT was hyped as a major breakthrough in Zimbabwe’s biggest cash-in-transit robbery turned into a legal train wreck, complete with fumbled affidavits, courtroom grilling, and one suspect walking free while another was left staring at A watered down money laundering rap.
Bulawayo police triggered a media frenzy this week after parading Sibonginkosi Sibanda and Thokozani Zulu as suspects in the US$4,4 million EcoBank heist. But by sunset, the so-called breakthrough had backfired — and badly.
Courtroom hopes of justice quickly fizzled into chaos as police downgraded the high-profile charges from armed robbery to, money laundering.
After hours of delay, the court finally sat around 4pm.
Thokozani Zulu was cleared of all charges.
Sibonginkosi Sibanda, a Safeguard Security employee from Cowdray Park, was charged with money laundering and remanded in custody until Monday pending a bail hearing.
But the real drama played out in the dock as defence lawyer Prince Butshe-Dube ripped into the prosecution, exposing glaring contradictions and shaking the foundation of the entire case.
Lead investigator Detective Assistant Inspector Tawedzerwa Shiriyapenga became the centre of a courtroom storm when he claimed the pair had not been arrested for robbery.
But Butshe-Dube pulled out an affidavit written that very morning, where Shiriyapenga himself stated the suspects were “picked up for robbery interviews.”
Caught red-handed, Shiriyapenga called it a typing error, prompting gasps and muffled chuckles in the gallery.
“You said they were not arrested for robbery, but your affidavit says otherwise. Were you being economical with the truth?” Butshe-Dube asked, cold and cutting.
It only got worse.
When pressed on why Sibanda’s assets were suspicious, Shiriyapenga admitted the properties were registered under his wife and daughter’s names.
“Are you now suggesting a married woman cannot own property?” the lawyer asked.
Prosecutors claim Sibanda splurged post-heist, acquiring:
• Two houses in Cowdray Park and Mbundane
• Two rural homesteads
• A Hino truck
• A Honda Fit
• Fencing for his Insiza homestead worth US$7 600
But Butshe-Dube tore holes in the claims.
“Have you seen the agreements of sale? Are you aware the properties are properly documented? Do you even understand what constitutes money laundering?” he asked, hammering home the investigative incompetence.
“You are under-trained, ill-equipped, and you have bungled the case. This should have been handled by the Commercial Crimes Division,” he snapped.
The EcoBank robbery remains unsolved, after the courtroom debacle , and public confidence in the investigation is crumbling.
What was touted as a big win for the cops may just be an embarrassing own goal.
