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Chombo loses 11 cattle to manager

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HOME Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo has allegedly lost 11 cattle at his Allan Grange Farm in Raffingora to his manager, Tobias Jim.

HOME Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo has allegedly lost 11 cattle at his Allan Grange Farm in Raffingora to his manager, Tobias Jim.

By Own Correspondent

Jim (42) recently appeared before Chinhoyi regional magistrate Letwin Rwodzi for initial remand on stock theft charges.

He was arraigned together with his three accomplices Takawira Karemba (38) of Chief Chirau in Zvimba, Oliver Mupiyami (30) of Allan Grange Farm and Admire Dhibha (age not stated), a security guard at the farm.

The four were remanded in custody to August 30.

They were arrested after the beasts allegedly went missing after breaking out of a pen sometime in March 2017.

Following the incident, Godfrey Timba, a cattle herder at the farm, lodged a report of 11 missing cattle at ZRP Mutorashanga on April 28 after efforts to locate the beasts at nearby farms had proved fruitless.

According to the State, Banket police on August 8, received a report that two beasts that had been stolen from Ashby Farm near Banket. Investigations led to the arrest of Karemba and his alleged accomplice Passmore Tafira after a tip-off that the two were in the business of selling cattle in Zvimba.

During investigations, nine police stock clearance forms were allegedly recovered from Karemba, leading to the recovery of five of the beasts at Madhuveko village in the Zvimba communal area

Karemba allegedly confessed to stealing the cattle from Chombo’s farm in cahoots with Jim and Dhibha. He allegedly also admitted to using the fraudulently acquired forms to move the 11 cattle from Allan Grange Farm to Mafuta Farm where they hired a truck the following day and ferried the cattle to Zvimba for sale.

Karemba, who has a previous stock-theft conviction, told the court he had agreed to pay Jim and the security guard $1 500 from the proceeds of the crime.