TWO men from Skuta in Gwatemba, Matabeleland South, have been fined $200 each for stealing three bags of ammonium nitrate fertiliser donated under the presidential input scheme.
SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
Thamsanqa Sibanda (23) and Mandlenkosi Nhliziyo (24) pleaded guilty to theft when they appeared before Filabusi magistrate Mzingaye Moyo who convicted and fined them $200 or four months in jail.
In sentencing them, Moyo said he considered that they were first time offenders who pleaded guilty to the charge without wasting the court’s time.
He said what aggravated their offence was that they breached the trust which farmers had placed in them and worse still they were also going to get their shares of the fertiliser as part of the beneficiaries.
Moyo said that greed prompted them to steal the inputs and they deserved to be punished.
Prosecutor Smart Tafireyi told the court that Sibanda and Nhliziyo were hired by Gwatemba farmers sometime last year to transport 119 bags of fertiliser donated by President Robert Mugabe from Gwatemba Hall to a place of safety before it could be distributed to beneficiaries.
The pair allegedly stole three bags of fertiliser and the theft was only discovered when Grain Marketing Board (GMB) officials and local police were distributing it.
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Investigations led to the recovery of the fertiliser from the pair and they were subsequently arrested.
The theft came at a time Mahole villagers in the same district expressed concern at the failure to distribute fertiliser which they claimed was locked in the community hall.
The fertiliser was supposed to be distributed to communal farmers before the start of the rainy season, but stockpiles were discovered at the hall when they wanted to use the hall for a Grade Zero class.
The class ended up being moved to a disused beer hall, but was moved after Southern Eye reported on the issue a fortnight ago. The villagers said they suspected some GMB officials were working in cahoots with some Zanu PF councillors to abuse the input scheme by secretly selling it when it was meant to be freely distributed to them. Twitter feedback @silasnkala
