10 years for tampering with electricity
By Tarisai Machakaire
A 60-year-old Epworth man was jailed for 10 years on Tuesday for contravening the Electricity Act.
Alson Shoko was represented by Gift Mtisi when he appeared before Harare magistrate Nomsa Sabarauta.
Sabarauta jailed Shoko to the mandatory 10 years after he failed to proffer special circumstances that would enable a lighter sentence.
The complainant was Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority represented by Henry Maosa, a loss control officer.
Prosecutor Fransisca Mukumbiri proved that on August 20, Shoko was in the company of several other men and went to Pamela Mutandwa’s residence in Glenwood Park in Epworth.
Shoko had a misunderstanding with Mutandwa about how she had acquired electricity at her house and was told to approach Zesa if he had any queries.
However Shoko then wore gloves and used an unknown object to cut cables that supplied electricity to Mutandwa’s house. She reported the matter to the police, leading to his arrest.
Meanwhile, another Harare man Tapiwa Paul — caught red handed stealing electric fuses from a substation — was denied bail when he appeared before Sabarauta yesterday.
Paul denied the offence and claimed he kept his mesh wire in the substation and had gone to take it when he was apprehended.
He is being charged with contravening the Electricity Act. The complainant is Michael Machongwe, a caretaker at Zimre Property.
On September 26, Machongwe and an Innscor manager Richard Shereni were on duty at 57 Nelson Mandela in Harare and experienced a power cut at old Shell House.
Machongwe and Shereni rushed to the Zimbabwe Electricity and Transmission Distribution Company substation at the back of the building and discovered that the entrance door was open.
The court heard that Machongwe and his boss entered the substation to investigate if electricity had been tempered with and found Paul holding five fuses.
Paul was immediately arrested and taken to First Street Police Base together with the stolen property.
ZETDC loss control officials were called to the scene and confirmed that the fuses were their property valued at $500. Daily News
