Notion Charakupa (49), who is employed as a revenue assurance assistant by Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) was fined $600 for illegally connecting electricity to 11 households in Chitungwiza while pretending to be on official duty.
He pleaded not guilty to abuse of office charges, but was convicted after a full trial by Chitungwiza resident magistrate Mrs Yeukai Chigodora. Charakupa was ordered to pay the fine or risk spending six months in prison. His two accomplices Maxwell Chadambura and Alfred Zakaria, who were responsible for connecting electricity to the 11 homes will be sentenced tomorrow.
The court heard that from January to April this year, the trio bought electrical cables, a ladder, electricity meters and boxes and proceeded to Garikai houses in Unit L, Seke, where they illegally connected electricity to 11 houses. The matter came to light when another ZETDC worker Shepherd Marunga received an anonymous tip off that the trio was connecting electricity to houses using the old fixed system instead of the prepaid system leading to their arrest.
More: Herald
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