Zanu-PF Ward 1 councillor, Josiah Mutangi, who was convicted of 13 counts of fraud for duping vendors of their money, has been ordered to perform 490 hours of community service at Bulawayo Central Police Station, and to restitute the victims their money by February 27, 2026. Cllr Mutangi’s co-accused, Janet Zhou, will perform 450 hours of community service at Cowdray Park police station for the same charges. Bulawayo Provincial Magistrate, Richard Ramaboea, sentenced the pair to a total of 40 months in prison, and suspended two months from each count on condition that they restitute all the victims in full by February 27.
The remaining 14 months were commuted to community service for each of them. Mutangi and Zhou were convicted on 13 counts of fraud last week, after they swindled local vendors of money by falsely promising them vending bays. Magistrate Ramaboea ruled that the vendors had only handed over their money because they were assured of legal vending bays that would allow them to trade without running from municipal police, but Mutangi and Zhou instead defrauded them.
He said receipt books produced in court and the constitution of their purported Bulawayo Achievers Association were part of a ploy to evade the charges. In mitigation, their lawyer, Constance Mathaba of Makiye and Partners, submitted that Mutangi was a first-time offender who had learnt from the experience and was prepared to compensate the complainants. She said the extensive media coverage of the case had already caused him significant embarrassment and that he would not want to repeat such conduct.
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“The accused has never broken the law until now. He is also willing to restitute the complainants their money. For a person of his standing, he has learnt his lesson,” she said, adding that the public scrutiny surrounding the case had been punitive in itself.
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