Couple dupes residents

News
A Bulawayo couple is in trouble after allegedly duping disabled people from Nketa suburb by asking them to join a non-existent housing scheme.

NIZBERT MOYO

A Bulawayo couple is in trouble after allegedly duping disabled people from Nketa suburb by asking them to join a non-existent housing scheme.

Abigail Sibanda (39) and her husband Peter Bhazela (36) from Mpopoma appeared before the Bulawayo West Commonage Magistrate Court last Wednesday facing fraud charges.

Prosecutors said on July 31, the couple told a residents’ meeting that they were employed by the Open Hands Housing project and they were registering people with disabilities and the underprivileged for a housing scheme.

They told residents that they would build houses for them in Upper and Lower Rangemore. Sixty-seven people paid $8 registration fees each and the couple pocketed $536.

However, their luck ran out when a resident discovered that the company did not exist, leading to their arrest.