A notorious syndicate, including a husband and wife, believed to be responsible for extensive copper cable theft in Bulawayo was arrested by police after a two-week sting operation that saw more than 6 tonnes of copper recovered.
Tapfumanei Muzarabani (48) and his wife Tracy Muzarabani (46) of Bellevue, and Allan Mudyiwa (28) and Hebron Chiyangwa (27) of Mahatshula appeared in the Bulawayo Magistrates' Court charged with stealing copper cables worth US$141 000
They were arrested in March for illegally dealing in copper. They were charged with possession of material used in connection with the generating, transmitting, distributing, or supplying of electricity as defined in Section 60 of the Electricity Act, which carries a heavy sentence on conviction.
The quartet faced further charges for contravening Section 38 of the National Railways of Zimbabwe Act, Section 89 of the Telecommunications Act, and Section (3) (1) of the Copper Control Act.
The court heard that between 2022 and March this year, Zesa experienced serious cases of theft of overhead copper cables, armoured cables, and transformers in and around Bulawayo.
"The power utility made a report to the police, and as a result, sometime in March 2024, CID Homicide detectives received a tip-off that the four were illegally dealing in copper cables," according to court papers.
"Detectives acting on the tip-off identified the house and placed it under surveillance, monitoring the movements and activities of those living there, which led to their arrest and subsequent recovery and seizure of 6 550kg of copper in various forms, valued at US$131 000, in Mahatshula suburb."
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Prosecutor, Ms Concillia Ncube, said between 2022 and March this year, NRZ suffered theft of copper interpols, locomotive power copper conductors, copper cables, and copper wires in and around Bulawayo.
"National Railways of Zimbabwe identified 430kg of locomotive power conductors and cables used for the provision of railway services as their property," she said.
The court heard that the total value of the recovered NRZ property was US$8 600.
Ms Ncube added that during the same period, TelOne also experienced cases of theft of copper interpols, telephone poles, signal copper wires, and telecommunication copper wires.
The value of the recovered property belonging to TelOne was US$2 000. Additionally, a total of 2 600kg of scrap copper worth US$52 000, which was not identified by the stakeholders, was also recovered from the accused persons.
