Serving Offender Jailed 10 Months for Tampering With Electricity Meter

Gweru - A 35-year-old Gweru man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after he was convicted of illegally reconnecting electricity by tampering with power infrastructure in Mtapa.

Asani Mhofu was sentenced on March 2, 2026 by Gweru magistrate Paida Mafusire after the court found him guilty of interfering with an electricity meter in violation of Section 60A(1)(a)(b) of the Electricity Act.

The court heard that the complainant was the State, represented by Paul Kangausaru, a loss control artisan employed by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company in Gweru.

According to the State outline, Mhofu unlawfully diverted electricity at his residence at house number 152, Section 5, Mtapa, after the property had been disconnected for non-payment.

On October 27, 2025 at around 10am, Kangausaru and his colleagues, Jonathan Zhou and Lawrence Mungwari, were conducting inspections on houses whose electricity had previously been cut off due to unpaid bills.

During the operation, the team noticed that Mhofu’s residence had electricity despite being disconnected on January 5, 2025. This raised suspicion and prompted the officials to conduct a physical inspection.

The court heard that the meter box at the house was locked, forcing the ZETDC team to open it for verification. Inside, they discovered a 2.5 millimetre cable that had been illegally connected directly to the distribution board, bypassing the meter.
Prosecutor Ruvimbo Mutemeri told the court that the accused knowingly used electricity that had been unlawfully diverted.

In passing sentence, Magistrate Mafusire expressed strong displeasure at the accused’s conduct, noting that this was not his first brush with the law. The court heard that Mhofu is already serving more than 20 months in prison for another offence.
During the trial, the magistrate also rebuked the accused over allegations previously made by his relatives following an earlier case she had presided over.

“Please do not try to act up and be funny,” the magistrate warned in court.

“You were previously here and I sentenced you in that matter. Your relatives became bitter, questioning why you were sent to prison and baselessly claimed that I had been bribed.”

Magistrate Mafusire further noted that the individual who had allegedly been cited as facilitating the supposed bribe is already serving a prison term for a similar offence.

The court ultimately sentenced Mhofu to 10 months’ imprisonment, underscoring the judiciary’s tough stance on electricity theft, which authorities say continues to cause significant financial losses and operational challenges for the national power utility.