40-month jail term for Zaka drug peddler

Zim Now Writer

Magistrate Rethakgetsi Silaigwana has sentenced a 40-year-old drug peddler from Zaka in Masvingo Province, to 40 months in jail for unlawful possession of dagga.

Sophia Matande will serve an effective 24-month jail term after 16 months were suspended for five years.

It was a state case that, on April 22, 2023, Police details received a tip-off that Matande was cultivating dagga in her field at her homestead.

The police details visited Matande’s homestead and noticed the dagga plants.

Subsequently, they uprooted 45 plants of dagga with an average height of 194 centimetres and took them to ZRP Muchakata-Zano Base.

Matande was later arrested on May 8, 2023.