Police arrest copper cables thief

By Tafadzwa Chigandiwa

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has arrested a 20-year-old man, Tatenda Chimbara over a case of copper cables theft in Chegutu.


According to police the suspect suffered scalds after he was electrocuted while draining transformer oil on Sunday.

In a statement the ZRP said, “The ZRP confirms the arrest of Tatenda Chimbarara (20) in connection with a case of theft of copper cables on 29/08/21 which occurred at Pfupajena, Chegutu.

“The suspect was electrocuted whilst draining transformer oil and sustained electrical burns. #notovandalism.”

Copper cables have recently become an increasingly attractive commodity and this has seen a huge theft of the wires.

As a result this has posed massive loss to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and it has left residents without power for a number of days.

ZETDC is pushing for review of the sentence from 10 years to 30 years.

According to reports the company (ZETDC) requires a budget of more than US$14 million to procure intruder detection gadgets to fight the scourge which is costing them US$2 million annually.