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Richard Muponde, Gwanda Correspondent
A COUPLE from Gwanda has been arrested for cultivating 30 plants of mbanje in a garden and peddling twists of the dagga.

Sifiso Moyo (25) and her husband Dumisani Sibanda (48) of Sibona Village under Chief Mathema said they grew the illegal drug for recreation.
Gwanda resident magistrate Mr Arafat Konzanai convicted them separately for cultivating mbanje, possession of the seeds and twists.

He said Zimbabwe was not a place to smoke mbanje.

“I warn you Sibanda that if you want to  smoke mbanje go to those countries who believe in that and legalised it, not here in this country,” said Mr Konzanai.

Moyo pleaded not guilty to cultivating the dagga and implicated her husband Sibanda.

The magistrate found her guilty of possessing seven twists of mbanje and 30 grammes of the seeds.

He convicted her husband on all the three counts.

Mr Konzanai fined Moyo $100 for possession of the seven twists and gave her a wholly suspended 90-day sentence for the seeds.

He treated Sibanda’s counts as one for purposes of sentence.

The magistrate sentenced Sibanda to 18 months in prison and conditionally suspended four months for five years.

He suspended the remaining 14 months on condition that Sibanda completes 490 hours of community service at Sibona Primary School.

The couple, which has a four-month-old baby, was clad in prison garb.

The court heard that on May 24, police acting on a tip off raided Sibanda’s homestead and found 30 plants of mbanje in the couple’s garden.

They searched the homestead and found seven twists of the drug under a bed and 30 grammes of the seeds hidden in a fowl run.