Controversial Marondera businessman Francesco Marconati is set to appear in court on Monday for allegedly possessing an unlicensed gun following a fatal shooting incident in Matabeleland North’s Bubi district amid fears in the local community that justice will not prevail.
Marconati was arrested last Tuesday by the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after allegedly being caught with an unlicensed gun.
He appeared in court on Thursday and Friday when bail ruling was postponed to Monday.
Marconati’s arrest came two weeks after a 31-year-old man, Thabo Ngwenya, was fatally shot while walking to the shops near the businessman’s mine, the DGL5 Mines.
Ngwenya was allegedly shot three times on the left side of his chest by the mine security guard while another man, who had been sent by his mother to the shops, was also injured after being shot on the right arm.
Villagers claimed that after Marconati was arrested and remanded in custody, he was allowed by Inyathi police to sleep at his home.
Some of the villagers alleged that he even visited his mine on Thursday morning before going to court.
The court sat around 4 pm on that day.
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“He will be back in court on Monday for bail ruling,” one of Marconati’s former workers said.
“He was arrested, but he was using his phone even at court and appeared at the mine when he was supposed to be in remand prison.”
The worker said he felt that Inyathi police were protecting Marconati despite his alleged unlawful conduct.
“He was once convicted and sentenced to perform 105 hours community service at the police station and his son to perform 105 hours community services at a local school for threatening to kill his business partner outside the Harare magistrates’ court,” the employee, who requested to remain anonymous, said.
“They both didn’t perform any community service.
“The police officer in charge registered him as having conducted community service while knowing he didn’t even do it. His workers performed it on his behalf.”
The businessman’s workers allegedly provided the police officers food and drinks.
Marconati allegedly provided the police station with paint so that he could submit a forged roster showing that he performed community service when he did not.
On most of the days he purportedly performed community service he was allegedly in Harare where he was attending to other criminal cases against him, the whistle blowers said.
An affidavit by Matheas Moyo, an inmate who was performing community service with Marconati’s son, Alessandro at Queens Primary School also exposed the alleged scam.
Moyo claimed that Alessandro did not perform any community service as required by the law.
He alleged that some DGL5 employees were sent by Maronati to do the cleaning duties and that the headmaster falsely claimed that the businessman’s son had done the work.
“I humbly appeal to your respectable office to help us and justice to be served accordingly," Moyo appealed.
"I myself and others were denied the authority to have people standing in for us as I was not feeling well.
“I was told by the headmaster that it is not allowed by the law.
“We were surprised to see that the accused is being granted all the favours at the school as he came one time and just sat inside the headmaster's office chatting and laughing.
He claimed that Alessandro would rushed to the school in a white Landcruiser registration no. ADA 2951 when he was advised that the social welfare department would be visiting to check whether he was performing the community service. He would allegedly leave soon after their visit.
The issue was once a subject of investigation where some Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) officers were reported to the CID for allegedly protecting Marconati and Alessandro.
The duo had been convicted for threatening their former business partner Li Song with death and failing to perform their community service.
This is not the first time Marconati has been arrested for illegal possession of a gun.
He was once accused of discharging a firearm four times on a driver of his rival in front of Siphosami Mathonsi in 2021.
He allegedly pointed his gun at Chinese investors while trying to stop them from investing in a gold mine where he is only a12.75% shareholder.
Marconati is said to be running the mine illegally and allegedly has 19 guns stored near the entrance of the mine.
Nineteen guns were registered for hunting purposes at a Mana Pools safari lodge and a photographic site at the national park.
In denying possessing the unlicensed gun, Marconati claimed that the firearms belonged to DGL5 shareholders, but they registered it in his name.
The villagers claimed that there has been resistance by Inyathi police to record any case involving Marconati.
They cited the alleged failure to deal with a case in which one Nqobizitha Moyo was shot on the eye by the businessman’s guard.
The guard was promoted and is still to face justice.
Marconati was once convicted for fraud after allegedly submitting fake CR6 forms, which were never registered with the Deeds Office to several banks to boot out a business partner.
He was also convicted for theft of trust property in 2023.
Marconati was sentenced to five years in jail for fraud and forgery before he was released on bail pending appeal by the High Court.
In December 2024, a letter by concerned citizens raised alarm on the alleged selective application of the law favouring Marconati and said they feared that such protection will result in him running a criminal syndicate.
