Rebecca Mazvidza
TWO NATIONS REPORTER

BEITBRIDGE- Regional Magistrate Innocent Bepura has sentenced a Beitbridge man, Hardlife Ngwenya (30), to 10 years in prison for stealing two metres of earth wire valued at US$40.
Ngwenya of house number 1338 Impala Drive in Beitbridge was sentenced on Tuesday after a full trial.
He stole the wire measuring 35 square millimetres x two metres at a Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) transformer near house number 707 Baobab, Beitbridge.
Prosecutor Tsitsi Mutukwa told the court that the theft happened on March 18, 2023, around 5 pm, and Ngwenya’s accomplice identified as Mashavire is still at large.
Ngwenya was charged with contravening section 60 A (1) (3) (b) of the Electricity Act Chapter 13, 09, which prohibits the cutting, damaging and destroying any apparatus for generating, transmitting and distributing or supply of electricity.
The duo cut two metres of the earth wire, packed it in a bag, but were seen by the alert public.
Two women, Gloria Bushe, who stays at 706 Baobab and Loveness Mpande, a loss control officer at Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), intercepted them and demanded to see what was in a bag they were carrying.

Bushe and Mpande found three pieces of the earth wire and a hammer in the bag. Mashavire fled, and the women managed to detain Ngwenya. The earth wire was recovered.