Zimpapers Logo

Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter

A SERIAL fraudster has been arrested in Bulawayo for allegedly masquerading as a top Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officer and a close security aide to President Emmerson Mnangagwa before duping Ingwebu Breweries of 375 litres of fuel and $1 200.

Henessy Dube (40) of Entumbane suburb allegedly met Ingwebu Breweries managing director Mr Dumisani Mhlanga and produced a fake CIO identity card before he identified himself as a director of operations in the CIO.

He then allegedly offered to assist the company to recover money from its debtors purportedly using his influence by virtue of being in the President’s Office.

Dube yesterday appeared before Bulawayo magistrate, Mrs Ulukile Mlea-Ndlovu, facing charges of fraud, impersonating a public officer and making a false statement to deceive a registration officer in violation of Section 10 (1) (b) of the National Registration Act.

He was remanded in custody to October 4.

Dube, who fell ill soon after his arrest, is under police guard at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).

Prosecuting, Mr Nkathazo Dlodlo said sometime at the beginning of May this year during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, Dube hatched a plan and went to Ingwebu Breweries head offices in Bulawayo intending to see management. 

During that time, Ingwebu Breweries was facing operational challenges, some of which emanated from a failure by its debtors to honour their commitments.

“The accused person approached the company’s managing director Dumisani Mhlanga and introduced himself as the director of operations at the CIO based in Harare. He told Mhlanga that he was in Bulawayo as part of a team of President Mnangagwa’s close security aides during the ZITF period,” Mr Dlodlo                said.

He said Dube produced a fake CIO identity card bearing the names Majaha Julian Dube.

“The accused person indicated to the Ingwebu Breweries managing director that he had picked information pertaining to the ill-treatment of workers and war veterans by management including the impending retrenchment of workers. He told the managing director that the President was not amused and due to his misrepresentation, Mr Mhlanga was convinced and he briefed Dube on the goings on at the company with the accused person promising to render assistance,” said Mr Dlodlo.

He said a few days later, Dube returned to Ingwebu Breweries and offered to use his authority to pressurise the company’s debtors, which included companies contracted on beerhall franchise, to pay their debts and the management agreed.

Some debtors reportedly paid up after Dube’s intervention. 

Mr Dlodlo said Dube further pressurised management at Ingwebu Breweries to employ his friends under the guise that they were students on attachment from the CIO.

Their contracts were signed by management and they were given tasks to spy within the company’s various departments.

It was later established that the accused person was not employed by the CIO and due to his misrepresentation, Dube benefited in the form of 375 litres of fuel allocation and $1 200 among other undisclosed benefits.

It also emerged in court that on December 7, 2012, Dube acquired a national identity card under the names Henessy Dube NR 08-682325-J-53 bearing his portrait. On June 3, 2017, Dube allegedly took another identity card NR 08-719040-R-53 with his picture but under the names Majaha Julian Dube.

“Checks with Registrar-General’s Office showed that the names Majaha Julian Dube and all the particulars including the portrait belonged to his brother who is now based in South Africa and suspected to have acquired citizenship of that country,” said Mr Dlodlo.

He said armed with his brother’s identity card and his academic certificates, Dube applied for a teaching post in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. He was subsequently employed as a teacher and deployed in Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North under EC Number 5710690W.

He however, unceremoniously breached the contract and absconded. The court was told that Dube has a previous conviction after masquerading as a doctor for six months at Mpilo Central Hospital. — @mashnets.