Tsvangirai staffer guilty of possessing a firearm without a licence

Director of Research in the Prime Minister's office, Thabani Mpofu, was yesterday found guilty of being in possession of a firearm without a licence and for placing it in an insecure place.

Magistrate Anita Tshuma spared Mpofu a custodial sentence by fining him $400 or risk going to prison for two months.

Mpofu was facing charges of contravening Section 4 (1) of the Firearms Act for allegedly failing to renew a firearm certificate and Section 28 (2) of the Firearms Act for allegedly keeping a firearm in a non-secure place.

Facts are that during a search of his premises on March 17, police officers confiscated a firearm that was neither registered nor kept in a secure place after it was found hidden under a pile of clothes in the house.

When police inquired to see a certificate for the weapon, Mpofu failed to produce the required documentation leading to his arrest.

Mpofu together with Felix Matsinde, Warship Dumba and Mehluli Moyo is also facing charges of impersonating a police officer, contravening the Official Secrets Act and being in possession of articles for criminal use.

Allegations against Mpofu and his colleagues arose on March 17 when detectives received
information that they were in possession of dockets they were privately compiling to discredit the judicial system.

It is alleged the dockets contained information that the police and the AG had failed or refused to investigate cases of corruption involving prominent government officials among them Johannes Tomana and police commissioner general Augustine Chihuri.