Siphakeme .Mnindwa
THE case of the missing Presidential Input Scheme seeds meant for Ward Seven in Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North Province has taken a new twist following the arrest of Lydia Moyo (52), a Grain Marketing Board (GMB) employee in charge of the depot, Abisanjo Mpofu (44), a police officer stationed at ZRP Tsholotsho and Justin Maparadze (40), a security officer at the depot.
The trio has appeared in court before Tsholotsho resident magistrate, Mr Lesigo Ngwenya, facing theft charges.
They were not asked to plead and were remanded in custody to January 22.
Allegations are that Moyo instructed her subordinates to load the vehicle but failed to record any particulars of the loaded consignment.
Mpofu allegedly escorted the vehicle from the GMB Tsholotsho loading bay to an unknown destination and was reportedly not on duty while Maparadze, who was on duty at the gate, also failed to record details of the consignment upon leaving the GMB depot.
Representing the State, Ms Netsai Toga, told the court that on January 4 at the GMB Tsholotsho depot, the three accused, in the company of their accomplices, Kwanele Dube, an extension officer from the Agriculture and Rural Development Advisory Services, Langton Ncube, a GMB supervisor and Jacob Gombera who are currently on the run allegedly, hatched a plan to steal Presidential Inputs, which were being kept at Moyo’s workplace.
Dube, who was responsible for maintaining a register for beneficiaries of the inputs, approached Ncube who was responsible for supervising the loading of inputs, documentation and distribution of inputs, to dispatch a load under the pretext that it was going to be distributed to Ward Seven in Tsholotsho District.
The court heard that one of the accused persons later approached Gombera, instructing him to come and load the consignment.
Gombera reportedly hired a DAF Truck driven by Brighton Mudzingwa, from Bulawayo to Tsholotsho.
Upon his arrival at the GMB Tsholotsho depot, Maparadze opened the gate for him and directed the truck to the loading bay.
While inside, Gombera disembarked from the truck and went to see Moyo in her office.
Gombera reportedly presented himself as a farmer who had come to collect the consignment for his ward.
Soon after meeting her, Moyo and Ncube are alleged to have directed their subordinates to load the vehicle with 400 bags of 50kg Urea fertiliser, 30 bags of 10kg sunflower seeds and 100 bottles of 200ml Idacloprid chemicals.
While the truck was being loaded, Mpofu and Dube arrived. Dube was driving a silver Toyota Fortuner, while Mpofu was walking.
Maparadze reportedly did not record the vehicle and the driver’s particulars in his visitors’ book.
After the truck finished loading, Mpofu, Ncube and Gombera escorted it to the entrance gate, where Maparadze opened the gate for them and they left.
It is alleged that after travelling a distance of about five kilometres using the Mbamba–Tshefunye Road, Mpofu and Ncube disembarked from the vehicle and joined Dube, who had come to pick them up with his Toyota Fortuner. They then left for an unknown destination.
Gombera led the truck to Best Blue Investments in Kelvin North, Bulawayo, where he offloaded the consignment valued at US$15 680.
The arrests of the accused persons followed an investigation by the police at the behest of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.
mbulelo smpofu
