FORMER Zanu PF Insiza ward 17 councillor Sindiso Ndlovu and his accomplice Buhle Nkomazana were on Friday slapped with an effective 14-year jail term each after being convicted of stocktheft charges.
Their co-accused Onias Dube was ordered to pay a fine of US$400 or serve a two-year jail term.
The accused were denying the charges when they appeared before Filabusi resident magistrate Abednicho Ndebele, but were nailed due to overwhelming evidence.
Ndlovu (40) and Nkomazana (28), an employee at Break and Turn Butchery at Nkankezi business centre and Dube, who works at Esigodini Abattoirs, initially faced three counts of stocktheft.
The court heard that Ndlovu sold cattle to Esigodini Abattoirs, where the complainants later identified the hides of their slaughtered animals.
It is the State’s case that Ndlovu was selling cattle he claimed to own without recording the sales on his stock card, making it difficult to trace the transactions.
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Ndlovu is said to have gone to Plot 93 Ebenezer Farm in Filabusi and stole two cattle belonging to livestock farmer Richard Dube.
Indications are that the three cleared the cattle with local police before taking them to Esigodini Abattoirs for slaughter.
In the second count, the trio is said to have stolen two cattle from Sinovuyo Ndlovu at Insiza grazing lands, while in the third count they allegedly stole seven cattle from Shadreck Malinga at Plot 3 Winnfred Farm in Filabusi.
Ndebele found them guilty of two counts and dismissed the third one.