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Court Correspondent
A Harare man last Friday appeared in court after he was found in possession of Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) armoured cables valued at $2 500.

Oswald Zindoga (age not supplied) of Lumanda Farm in Marlborough was facing charges of contravening Section 60A (3a) of the Electricity Act that prohibits receiving or taking possession of any material used in connection with the generation, transmission, distribution or supply of electricity.

Harare magistrate Mr Richard Ramaboa remanded Zindoga in custody to tomorrow for bail application.

It is alleged that on February 27, Owen Sipedi, a member of the neighbourhood watch committee, visited Zindoga’s house after receiving information from locals that he was in possession of armoured cables.

The court heard that Sipedi found Zindoga in possession of 25 metres of armoured wire chopped into pieces in his bedroom.

It is the State’s case that the bedding (PVC) from the armoured cables was also found in the nearby field upon conducting a search.

The armoured wire and PVC were positively identified by ZETDC personnel.

Harare magistrate Mrs Babra Mateko recently convicted four men for stealing copper conductors weighing more than 45kg and sentenced them to 10 years in jail each.

Munyaradzi Mvumba (24) Tafadzwa Mlambo (22), Jephter Mugochi (30) and Sibonginkosi Banda (22) pleaded guilty to contravening Section 60A (3a) of the Electricity Act.

The copper conductors from a Zesa transformer were weighed in the presence of the four and a mass of 45 kilograms was realised.

The total value of the cables was put at $900.