Miners locked up for trying to con BCC

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TWO Bulawayo miners at Willsgrove Mine Syndicate Side were on Friday locked up in remand prison after they allegedly cheated the Bulawayo City Council.

TWO Bulawayo miners at Willsgrove Mine Syndicate Side were on Friday locked up in remand prison after they allegedly cheated the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) by attempting to seek mining special grant favours using a map of an already registered mine.

SILAS NKALA

The elderly miners, Morris Dlamini (76) and May Mahlangu (83) were not asked to plead to the charges of supplying false information for purposes of obtaining special grant mine registration, when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Crispen Mberewere. The magistrate remanded them in custody to July 23 for trial.

The Court heard that on July 7 2010, the two submitted an application for a consent letter so they could renew their Willsgrove Mine Syndicate Special Grant 4407 from council.

The local authority specifically told them not to apply for special grant 4406, which was in dispute between one Evans Mnethwa and Douglas Siziba, who had a certificate for the mine.

On January 17 2011, council granted them a consent letter for the renewal of special grant 4407.

Dlamini and Mahlangu obtained a map for special grant 4406 and went with it to Clement Khumalo, a pegger, whom they asked to shade the block for them.

The two did not tell Khumalo that the block for the map special grant 4406 was occupied by another miner. They allegedly used a magic marker to heavily shade the block such that the figures SG4406 could not be seen.

On January 26 the two submitted their application for special grant 4407 together with the map for special grant 4406, well knowing that it belonged to another mine. Photocopies of the consent letter from BCC and an application for special grant 4406 will be produced in court as exhibits.

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