The Sunday News
Sukoluhle Ndlovu, Midlands Correspondent
A MAN from Bulawayo has been slapped with 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of stealing Government bitumen worth $800 000 which was meant for the dualisation of a 10-kilometre stretch along Harare-Beitbridge highway.
Artwell Mahakwa stole 55 drums of bitumen in April this year in Chivhu. He pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Chivhu magistrate Mr Henry Sande but was found guilty following a full trial. Passing sentence Mr Sande said people like Mahakwa who prejudice the State deserve to rot in jail.
“Selfish people who always want to benefit by prejudicing the Government deserve a heavy penalty. You cannot put yourself ahead of the nation’s needs by stealing bitumen meant to fix the country’s roads. It is such kind of corruption that is derailing efforts by the Government to turn around the economy,” he said.
The court heard that sometimes in April this year, Mahakwa and his accomplice Armstrong Mpotegwa who is still at large phoned Mr Lazarus Demo and told him that they were selling bitumen. Mahakwa met Mr Demo at TM Hyper in Bulawayo and they drove to a warehouse where they had kept the tar. After seeing the consignment, Mr Demo bought the 55 drums of the commodity at $260 per drum. He paid some of the money through Ecocash while the remaining was paid in cash.
The court heard that Mr Demo used the bitumen to construct a state of the art tennis court in Msuna suburb in Hwange where he resides. Mr Thomas Mushangidze appeared for the state.
In April this year, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza was quoted saying at least 215 drums of bitumen worth $4 million were stolen at a road construction site in Chivhu. Minister Matiza said the manner in which the bitumen disappeared had footprints of an inside job pointing out that thefts of a similar nature had also occurred in the past in Hwedza and Gweru.
“I can confirm that 215 drums of bitumen worth RTGS$4 million were stolen in Chivhu. The bitumen was part of a consignment meant to tar the 10km stretch which is part of the dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge highway being undertaken by the Ministry in Chivhu. The manner in which the bitumen disappeared pointed to an organised gang of rogue workers bent on defrauding the Government. We are going to take stringent measures to decimate such racketeering and mafia activities,” he was quoted saying.
This led to the investigation which resulted in the arrest of Mahakwa.
@sukusinini
