A MAN from Nkulumane, who was arrested for possession of three twists of mbanje, yesterday told the court that he only had a twist of the drug at the time of his arrest and the rest must have been added by the police.
SILAS NKALA
STAFF REPORTER
Khumbulani Dube (48) pleaded guilty to selling mbanje when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Gladmore Mushove yesterday, but said on his arrest he only had one twist.
He also told the court that the police took him to CABS building where they harassed him claiming that he was of no fixed abode as written on the police record, yet the State’s outline indicated that he stays in Nkulumane.
“I was arrested with only one twist of mbanje. I sell it, but the other three are not mine. Maybe the police added them. They told me that they want me to go to jail,” Dube said.
The magistrate asked him why he wanted to aggravate his offence by talking too much.
“You are nailing yourself by saying all this,” Mushove said.
“I am saying the police increased the mbanje number. I am taking tablets, but the police refused me that opportunity saying I will see that later. When I take the pills I go to the toilet a lot, but when I asked to go to the toilet they were refusing.
“Even on the docket they wrote that I am of no fixed abode, so that I could be kept in custody since they threatened that I must be jailed. They know me, they know my wife they know my children, but they wrote that I am of no fixed abode,” Dube said.
The court heard that on February 28 at about 12:30am detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department drugs and narcotics section were tipped off that Dube was dealing in mbanje at the Lounge Bar in the city.
They went to the place and searched him and found him in possession of one twist of mbanje and three rolled cigarettes of the drug all weighing 6,5 grammes worth $65, leading to his arrest.