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Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent

A Cameroonian businessman and his accomplice appeared in court yesterday for allegedly kidnapping his truck driver who had failed to deliver a consignment of 600 bags of fertiliser in Zambia.

The driver was abducted from Zimbabwe and was taken to Zambia where he was put in remand prison for about two months.

Brian Chande (50) from Chitungwiza and Moussa Mounchikpou from The Grange were asked not to plead when they appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje charged with kidnapping.

The kidnapping allegedly took place on October 28, last year at Mounchikpou’s offices at number 21 Douglas Road, Workington, Harare.

Mounchikpou is the director of Profburg Private Limited.

It is alleged that the victim, Tasara Hwata (47), was summoned to the offices by his boss and Chande together with three other accomplices who are still at large.

The accomplices claimed to be police officers and told Hwata that he was under arrest for failing to deliver 600 bags of fertiliser at Omnia Fertiliser Company in Zambia.

According to the State, the trio further assaulted Hwata with a baton stick whilst he was handcuffed, ordering him to tell them where he had offloaded the truckload of fertiliser.

At around 5 pm, the accused persons forcibly took Hwata into their motor vehicle against his will and drove to Chirundu Border Post where they handed him over to Lloyd Chisumba, a Zambian national who was in the company of Zambian police officers.

The court heard Chisumba who was using an Isuzu twin cab took Hwata to Mosque Police Post in Makeni, Zambia where he was detained.

Hwata was able to eventually make a report through Interpol on 18 December 2023.

Mr Anesu Chirenje appeared for the State.