Magistrate Rutendo Jakati has sentenced a Bikita Minerals employee and a contracted driver to six years in jail each after convicting them of stealing 40 000 litres of diesel worth US$64 000 from the mine in March 2023.
Vision Nyashadzashe Chigerwe (30) who worked as a stores officer in the mine’s procurement department, and Darlington Matanga (40), the truck driver were found guilty at the end of the trial recently.
Three other co-accused, Tadiwanashe Chitingwiza (23), an intern from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Tinashe Zhuwawo (38) and Phedelice Masiiwa (59) who all worked as store officers were acquitted at the end of the case. Edwin Marecha, a security guard at the mine who was on duty on the day in questions is still on the run.
Magistrate Jakati convicted Chigerwe and Matanga on account of, among other issues, signing a diesel delivery form that implied that the fuel had been delivered to the mine and stored in the underground tanks.
The trio of Chitingwiza, Zhuwawo and Masiiwa was acquitted because there was no direct evidence linking them to the crime. The trio only initiated payment processes after Chigerwe had submitted the diesel delivery form.
The trial lasted 20 months since April 2023 and was postponed over 15 times. The stolen diesel was not recovered and the court did not establish where the diesel was taken or sold.
Circumstances are that Southern Diesel based in Harare subcontracted Blue Horizon Trucks to ferry the fuel to Bikita Minerals.
Matanga drove the truck with registration plates AEZ 5401 and tanker trailer with registration plates AEZ 4314 loaded with 40 000litres of diesel to the mine on March 8, 2023.
Chigerwe and Matanga signed the diesel delivery form and gave it to Chitingwiza, Zhuwawo and Masiiwa who went on to initiate payment processes.
The anomaly was discovered a week later on March 16 by Gideon Chepiri, the Stores Supervisor after physically dipping into the fuel tanks leading to the arrest of the five. Credit: The Mirror