A FIVE-MEMBER gang of robbers recently pounced on the Bulawayo Council for the Blind, disappearing with more than US$96 000, 49 060 rand and 18 000 pula.
The development emerged when one of the alleged gang members, Oliver Mahlangu (38), appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga on Tuesday this week.
Mahlangu pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody to September 2 this year.
His accomplices are appearing in court separately.
The court was told that on April 11, 2022, Mandla Sibanda (37), a security guard, was on duty seated in one of the organisation’s motor vehicles when he was approached by the robbers armed with an axe, a crowbar and a bolt cutter.
Mahlangu, Vusumuzi Mguni (24), Kelvin Njabulo Dube (30), MacDonald Tinashe Majaya (38) and Brian Moyo allegedly pulled Sibanda out of the motor vehicle, forced him to lie down, struck him with an axe handle and tied his legs and hands with a wire and shoe laces.
The court heard that they searched him and took a KZL cellphone, alarm system panic button and the keys to the back entrance before they went to company premises, leaving one of them guard Sibanda.
The gang allegedly turned off the alarm system using the panic button, opened the back door and gained entry to the company complex.
- Mudariki’s vision for Zim contemporary art fair
- Artist Richard Mudariki’s vision for a Zimbabwean contemporary art fair
- Afrophobia: Can some in ANC stand up
- Chief sucked in woman disappearance case
Keep Reading
It then forced open the financial administrator’s office using a crowbar and tried to grind open a safe containing US$24 028, 18 610 pula, 49 060 rand and ZiG9 650 and failed.
It then put it on a trolley and wheeled it outside.
The gang allegedly stole two laptops, projector, a locked green canvas bag that contained a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver serial number 731202 with four rounds and US$12 000.
The gang then went to the secretary’s office, which it also forcibly opened using a crowbar, ransacked it and got away with a silver cashbox containing US$10 000 and the ignition keys to a vehicle that was parked outside.
They allegedly loaded their loot in the vehicle before driving away.
Sibanda later untied himself, sought assistance from security guards manning nearby premises and reported the matter to the police.
Investigations led to the recovery of the stolen motor vehicle in Bulawayo on the same day.
Information was received leading to the arrest of Mahlangu, Mguni and Majaya in North End.
The three were interrogated in connection with the matter and they led to the recovery of the unopened safe with the cash and the trolley in the playroom at Mahlangu’s place.
The police also recovered the stolen arms and other items in Mahlangu’s bedroom.
A bolt cutter, a crowbar, an axe and a grinding machine were also recovered at his residence.
The gang implicated Dube and Moyo, leading to their arrest.
Police also recovered US$470 from Mahlangu, US$1 100 from Mguni and US$2 560 from Majaya.
