CHINHOYI — A Zimbabwe Postal Services (Private) Limited (Zimpost) branch manager stole $3 150 from the company and immediately tendered his resignation the very day he committed the crime, a Chinhoyi magistrate heard yesterday.
BY James Muonwa Own Correspondent
Stephen Zagwazata (45) was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment when he appeared before magistrate Patience Chirimo facing theft charges. However, four months of the sentence were suspended on condition of good behaviour and another 11 months set aside on condition Zagwazata pays restitution to Zimpost by March 7 this year.
An additional nine months were suspended on condition he performed 315 hours of unpaid work at the Chinhoyi Magistrates’ Court.
The State, led by Tinashe Dzvore, averred that on February 3, 2014 at around noon and at Zimpost Banket branch, Jokom Kamundiya, a postal clerk, sent a parcel (reference Banket 218660) containing
$3 150 to Zagwazata’s branch by a driver.
The parcel was received by Godfrey Mbwerere, a postman at Zimpost Chinhoyi who is responsible for receipts and dispatches, and a letter bill was signed between Mbwerere and Tendai Muronza, a postman at Zimpost Banket Branch. The money sent by Zimpost Banket was cash remittance for banking and Zagwazata was supposed to open the mail (receipt number 519643) in the presence of one witness and then record the cash into Zimpost Chinhoyi cashbook or deposit it into any of the company’s POSB accounts.
However, Zagwazata deliberately omitted the procedures and stole the money and converted it to his own use before he tendered his resignation on that same date. A forensic audit conducted by an inspectorate team on February 5 this year unearthed that cash sent from Banket could not be accounted for, leading to Zagwazata’s arrest on theft charges.
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Nothing was recovered.
