Five Econet contract workers plead guilty in warehouse theft worth US$77,407
Five men working under security and materials-handling contracts at Econet Wireless premises in Bulawayo have pleaded guilty to 2 counts of unlawful entry and theft after batteries, support equipment and cables worth a combined US$77,407.60 were taken from the company’s warehouse.
The group appeared before Bulawayo Regional Magistrate Lungile Ncube on Tuesday. They are Genius Gwazhe, 27, Takudzwa Tsuga, 30, Roy Gwatura, 23, Joel Nyoni, 21, and Lesly John Gwazhe, 30. They were due back in court on Thursday, October 22, for sentencing.
The thefts involved equipment valued at US$67,207.60 in the first count and US$10,200 in the second. Investigations led to the recovery of 9 ZTE batteries and a Site Camp Support, together valued at US$30,325.92, as well as cables and 2 sealed drums valued at US$5,200 in the second case. The total reported recovery across the 2 counts was US$35,525.92.
The five had access to the premises through their work. Four were employed by Crush Security and Suburban Security, which had been contracted to guard Econet’s property along J.M.N. Nkomo and Connaught Avenue. The fifth worked for Greenland Scrappers, a company contracted to receive and dispatch materials for Econet.
The court heard that the plan to steal from the warehouse was formed at an unknown point between May 2026 and October 16. The group took advantage of its access to the site and removed batteries valued at US$3,352.88 each, along with a Site Camp Support valued at US$150. They initially went unnoticed.
Econet’s security team later reviewed CCTV footage and traced the thefts. The investigation led to the arrests and recovery of the 9 ZTE batteries and the support equipment. The company’s security officer, Khulekani Ncube, 47, represented Econet in court.
The second count relates to a night-time break-in on October 16. The group used duplicate keys to open the warehouse’s sliding main gate and took drums of DC cable valued at US$2,500 each, along with 3 cable cut-offs measuring 41 metres, 25 metres and 10.3 metres. The cut-offs were valued at US$200.
Investigators recovered 2 sealed cable drums and 2 of the cut sections, measuring 41 metres and 25 metres. The property recovered in this count was valued at US$5,200. The third cut-off, measuring 10.3 metres, was not listed among the recovered items presented in court.
The Bulawayo case comes amid a series of thefts and attacks involving Zimbabwe’s telecommunications infrastructure, from batteries at remote network sites to underground cables supplying fixed-line services.
In May, 3 men appeared in Harare court over the alleged theft of lithium batteries worth US$90,000 from Econet base stations. Tinashe Tinarwo, 23, Luckmore Mhoyana, 24, and Munashe Munetsi, 25, faced 17 counts of unlawful entry and theft. The charges relate to a series of incidents said to have taken place between October 2025 and May 2026.
The trio were accused of posing as Econet technicians by wearing reflective jackets bearing the company’s name. They allegedly told caretakers and guards that they had come from the head office to service Huawei lithium batteries. After gaining access, they used keys to open battery cabinets and remove the equipment.
The sites named in court included the Fidelity Assurance Building, Harare Main Post Office, Gandahari Building, State Lottery Building, Zimre POSB Centre, Reliance Mall, Daventry House, Pollack House, KKT Tiles, OK Cameron Street Building, CT Bolts Building, TM Pick n Pay on Julia Zvobgo Street and Thame Building. The batteries were valued at US$90,000, and property valued at US$18,000 had been recovered by the time the case was reported.
A different operation targeted Econet’s remote booster stations in Manicaland. In July, police said a 6-member gang had raided 6 boosters in Makoni, Nyanga and Rusape over a period of 2 weeks. The group was accused of siphoning diesel used to run generators, stealing a Willard battery and taking US$180 from a security guard.
Police said the gang attacked guards while carrying weapons including machetes, iron bars, axes and catapults. At one site in Manana Village, a guard was tied up as the attackers broke into a fuel tank and took diesel. At a booster in Nyazura, another guard was struck with a stone fired from a catapult and hit with an iron bar. The suspects were arrested after detectives followed information about people visiting Econet sites and traced stolen property to buyers.
TelOne infrastructure has also been targeted. In October, Clive Mupare, 33, and Donald Chatora, 26, were each sentenced to an effective 20 years in prison after being convicted of stealing electrical copper cable and TelOne drop wires in Mutare’s Chikanga 2 suburb.
The pair had been hired to dig a trench at a construction site. While working on October 4, they came across an electrical earth cable. The following day, police on patrol stopped them near a local shopping centre and recovered about 9 metres of copper wire, 12 metres of TelOne drop wire and burglary tools. The cables, valued at US$250, were fully recovered. Each man received a 10-year sentence for each count, resulting in an effective term of 20 years.
Another TelOne case in Harare ended with a 10-year prison sentence for Fungai Craig Mangwiro, 35. He was caught on September 24 along Boyd Road in Southerton carrying 500 metres of TelOne drop wire valued at US$500. A community security guard and residents intervened before he could get away with the cable.
In March, TelOne loss-control officers and residents helped apprehend Ignatius Magara, 24, and Onias Marenga, 19, after they cut a 15-metre section of active underground copper cable along Warburn Road in Mabelreign. The cable ran through a TelOne manhole and was an 800-pair line. The company’s alarm system alerted its loss-control staff, who followed the suspects and recovered the cut cable before it could be stripped.
The cases involve different methods: workers with site access, people posing as technicians, groups attacking guards at isolated sites and cable theft carried out underground or beside roads. In Bulawayo, the 5 defendants admitted the 2 counts before sentencing, after CCTV footage and the company’s internal security inquiry brought the warehouse losses to light.