Presidential inputs thief spared jail

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Nonsikelelo Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
A ZANU-PF Women’s League senior member in Hwange District who was arrested for stealing farm inputs has been slapped with a suspended jail term after saying she had taken the items for safe keeping.

Beauty Moyo (53), who is chairperson for Kachechete Ward took 21x50kg bags of compound D fertiliser and 21x10kg bags of maize seed amounting to $1 600 which were later recovered from her homestead.

The inputs were allocated under the Presidential Input Scheme.

Moyo pleaded guilty to fraud charges when she appeared before Victoria Falls magistrate, Ms Rangarirai Gakanje yesterday.

She told the court that the beneficiaries were going to collect the inputs from her homestead.

“We had made arrangements with the villagers that they would come and collect their seed at my homestead but they didn’t make a follow-up,” said Moyo.

The magistrate convicted and sentenced her to six months in jail, before suspending the whole sentence for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Prosecuting, Mr Takunda Ndovorwi said Moyo, popularly known as NaMemory, last month had 21 national registration cards of people she claimed were from Mpumelelo Village as she misrepresented to Grain Marketing Board (GMB) officials.

There are 18 homesteads in Mpumelelo Village and none of them received the inputs after Moyo told them that their names could not be found, village head Mr Gilbert Ncube told the police.

Moyo told villagers at a meeting that was organised on 30 October to distribute the inputs, that only Zanu-PF supporters were eligible.

“Beauty Moyo presented 21 national registration cards to the GMB official claiming that all the people were from Mpumelelo village under village head Mr Gilbert Ncube. She said she had been sent to collect the inputs on their behalf,” said the prosecutor.

The court was told that Moyo was given 21x50kg bags of compound D fertiliser and 21x10kg bags of seed maize.

Some of the people she included on the list were not from Mpumelelo village while others were said to come from BH 17, 20 and 21 which are non-existent areas.

Moyo hired a villager Mr Clever Moyo to transport the loot to her homestead and paid him $1 for each bag.

While a family is entitled to a single bag of each item under the Presidential Inputs scheme, Moyo allocated a bag each to herself, husband, her son and daughter-in-law.

As a result, the court heard, others failed to access the inputs thereby causing chaos as some disgruntled villagers stormed the distribution centre and distributed the inputs to those that had been excluded. — @nonsy_m

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