The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) has disowned Simbarashe Sithole, who was slapped with a four-year jail term for assaulting and robbing a disc jockey while masquerading as a serving member of the force.
BY CHARLES LAITON
ZNA public relations director Lieutenant Colonel Alphios Makotore said Sithole ceased any association with the ZNA eight years ago after failing to complete training to become a fully-fledged member.
Makotore said Sithole was discharged on disciplinary grounds in 2008.
“The then recruit Simbarashe Sithole was administratively discharged from the Zimbabwe National Army’s 32 Infantry Battalion with effect from July 28, 2008 in terms of Section 12(1)(b)(ii) of the Defence (Regular Force) (Non-Commissioned Members) Regulations of 1989. He had been attested into the Army on May 1, 2008 to commence training and went absent without official leave (AWOL) while on training,” Makotore said in a statement yesterday.
Sithole was last week convicted of assaulting a civilian over wearing a camouflage T-shirt and robbing him of a cellphone and a dollar. Provincial magistrate Tendai Mahwe slapped him with a four-year jail term, but suspended two years on condition of good behaviour and restitution.
However, Sithole (29) had been treated as a ZNA member, prompting the magistrate to castigate him for putting the name of the force into disrepute.
