Malawian National jailed for stealing a Toyota Fortuner

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CHIKOMBA— Chivhu Regional Magistrate Tranos Utahwashe has sentenced Kenneth Leo Mchenga (33), a Malawian national to 10 years in jail for stealing a Toyota Fortuner vehicle from Zenith car rental Pvt limited.

Magistrate Utahwashe suspended four years of the sentence and Mchenga of 103 Third Street Betrans, Joburg in South Africa will effectively serve a six year jail term.

His alleged accomplice Thabo Manala is still at large.

The incident happened on April 5, 2024.

Circumstances are that the Manala hired a car from Zenith and Mchenga took the vehicle’s spare key and changed its registration plates from LF87TT GP to LC38DW GP.

He then drove the vehicle into Zimbabwe through an illegal entry point.

Zineth discovered that the vehicle had been driven out of South Africa through their tracking system and reported the matter to the South African Police.

The information was also passed to the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

Detectives from Chivhu CID received information that Mchenga was driving the stolen vehicle along the Harare – Masvingo highway heading towards Harare.

The detectives intercepted him and requested him to produce relevant registration paperwork for the motor vehicle.
Mchenga produced a registration book purportedly owned by Mias Angling and Scuba Cc Pvt limited, a South Africa authorization letter from Bambaliphi Vincent Nkomo of Angling and Scuba Cc Pvt limited, South Africa and a temporary import permit with a ‘ZIMRA reference number PV 8159’ issued in his name.

Detectives cross checked the information and discovered that the chassis and engine numbers did not match. The vehicle chassis and engine numbers are AHTCB3GS202022251 and 2GDD203006 respectively whilst those on the permit were AHTJA3GS900245005 and 1GD5290848 respectively.

The detectives engaged Interpol Harare through vehicle theft squad to verify the details and they established that the vehicle had been reported stolen by Zenith leading to Mchenga’s arrest.

The value of the vehicle is ZAR 700 000-00.

Source: Masvingo Mirror