A South Africa-based Bulawayo man was arrested during a prayer session in Marondera over the weekend and fined $100 for entering the country using a passport bearing a Mozambican national’s name.
Sydney Gwatsvaire (40), of West Somerton in Bulawayo and Johannesburg in South Africa, was convicted on his own plea of guilty to contravening section (36) of the Immigration Act when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tawanda Muchemwa yesterday.
He was fined $100 or two months in prison for entering the country illegally and using fake travel documents.
The passport bore the name Fernando Paulo Mula, but had Gwatsvaire’s photograph.
When asked why he was using a passport that did not belong to him, Gwatsvaire said he was now a Mozambican and had come to Zimbabwe to renounce his citizenship.
Police investigations established that the passport was issued on September 8 last year and Gwatsvaire had used the document to travel between South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
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