Illegal connections lands former Zinwa employee in ja!l
A FORMER Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) employee has been jailed for four years after being convicted of illegally connecting 65 households to the water body’s reticulation system resulting in it losing US$1 950.
Dumisani Sithole, who was stationed at Esibomvu Water Supply as the Operator-In-Charge was convicted for conducting illegal connections between 2020 and 2022.
Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager Mrs Marjorie Munyonga Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager Mrs Marjorie Munyonga confirmed Sithole’s arrest, saying he will, however serve two years behind bars “Dumisani Sithole, who was stationed at Esibomvu Water Supply as the Operator-In-Charge, will however serve an effective two years after an Esigodini Magistrate suspended one year of the sentence on condition that Sithole restitutes Zinwa US$1 950 on or before November 30, 2023 and another year on condition that he does not commit a similar offence in the next five years,”said Mrs Munyonga.
“It was established, during the trial between 2020 and 2022, Sithole collected US$30 connection fees, which he converted to personal use, from each of the 65 households whom he proceeded to illegally connect to the Zinwa system resulting in the households withdrawing 8 974 m3 of water from the system and in the process prejudicing Zinwa of ZWL$8 548 064,94 as at the time of the discovery of the offence.
She said Sithole’s offence came to light when the Zinwa security department carried out an operation to detect and eliminate non-revenue water.
Mrs Munyonga said upon the discovery of his shenanigans Sithole resigned but criminal proceedings had already been instituted against him.
She said Zinwa is committed to eliminating corruption within its workforce.
“Zinwa reiterates its commitment to the eradication of corruption within its ranks and appeals to members of the public to report any acts or any suspected acts of corruption by its officials. Clients are also advised that they should make payments only to authorised personnel and get receipts,” she said.
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