Former ZBC presenter Oscar Pambuka again convicted over fraud

Former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) television presenter Oscar Pambuka and his two friends, Elmore Mwenye, and Ngonidzashe Mbauya, who is in the transport business, were accused of fraud when they appeared at the Mbare Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Its alleged Pambuka attempted to defraud a Harare-based transporter of R36 000 after misrepresenting to him that he was Chingwena, Croco Motors director, and wanted advance money to pay for shipment of his motor spare parts in South Africa.

The trio duped Gibson Mazhangara, who runs Gimatar Logistics.

Prosecutor Vimbai Makamure told the court that on 15 November 2022, Pambuka, who was masquerading as Croco Motors marketing manager and representing Mr Chingwena, called Mr Mazhangara using a South African number saying they wanted R36 000 as advance payment for shipping spare parts from South Africa.

He claimed Chingwena was engaged in a meeting.

Pambuka then asked Mazhangara to deposit the money into J Velem Enterprises trading as Upholstery Trading’s FNB Bank account in South Africa.

He also told Mazhangira that he would receive the equivalent money in United States dollars in the country.

Mazhangira smelt a rat and went to confirm with Croco Motors who indicated that they had no containers of spare parts in South Africa waiting for shipment.

He took the matter to the police leading to the trio’s arrest.

Mbare magistrate Nyasha Vitorini convicted Pambuka and remanded him in custody to Thursday for sentencing.

Mbauya and Mwenye, who were implicated in the matter, were cleared and acquitted of the charges.

This is not the first time Pambuka has been arrested and convicted.

In 2018, he and former Zanu PF MP for Highfield Psychology Maziwisa were jailed for 30 months on charges of defrauding the Zimbabwe Power Company of US$12 650.