Weighbridge attendant accused of defrauding employer

A weighbridge attendant at National Foods' Workington Branch, Simon Kuyezesa (53), appeared before Harare magistrate Tapiwa Kuhudzai on allegations of defrauding the company of more than US$9,000. Kuyezesa was not required to plead during his brief court appearance. National Foods is represented in court by its loss control manager, Claudius Chitongo.

According to court papers, the alleged scheme occurred on July 31 when Kuyezesa received a truck driven by Bernard Soko, who remains at large. The truck, carrying wheat imported from Russia, was reportedly weighed by Kuyezesa using the branch's weighbridge machine. He allegedly issued a ticket stating that the truck's maximum weight was 47,460 kilograms.

The discrepancy came to light when Gift Ruzvidzo, the CCTV monitor supervisor, conducted a routine verification and found that the truck actually weighed 35,400 kilograms. Kuyezesa allegedly inflated the weight by 12,060 kilograms, knowing that Soko had already stolen the shortfall during transit. To conceal the manipulation, Kuyezesa reportedly used the weigh ticket details of a previous truck with the same registration numbers to mask the discrepancy.

As a result of the alleged fraud, National Foods suffered a direct loss of US$4,811, reflecting the value of the missing wheat. Using a similar method, Kuyezesa is also alleged to have inflated the weight of wheat in another truck driven by Anyway Fenyere, who is likewise still at large, causing the company a further loss of US$5,083.

Investigations are ongoing, and the matter is expected to return to court for further proceedings.