Cheque book madness, man in jail

The Herald, December 8, 1979 HAVING made an initial deposit of $20, George Maveneka Mundawarara issued cheques to 12 Salisbury firms totalling close to $3 000.

Yesterday he was convicted at the Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on 12 counts of fraud.

The court was told that the manager of the bank, which issued the cheque book, warned Mundawarara about the need to conduct his account in a responsible way.

He was given the book on July 3 and started issuing cheques to various firms, mostly for clothing.

The biggest amount, $1 500, was for a car. The cheques totalling $2 948, were worthless.

Mundawarara, who said he was in no way related to the Deputy Prime Minister, pleaded not guilty.

The magistrate, Mr C. L. Gale, however, called his conduct “grossly irresponsible” and found him guilty.

He sentenced him to a total of 72 months, of which 30 months were suspended for five years on conditions, giving an effective sentence of 42 months in jail.

Mr Ben Mloyi prosecuted.

Lessons for today

◆ People should not spend money that they do not have because they will end up in debt or in prison or both.

◆ The actions of the man in the story constitute fraud. Fraud is wrongful or criminal deception that is intended to result in financial or personal gain. Cases of people being defrauded using cheques are still on the rise globally. ◆ When dealing with cases of payments done using cheques, companies or individuals should first of all ensure that the cheque is cleared and the money has been transferred into their account before concluding the sale or releasing to prevent being duped. ◆ The use of cheques in Zimbabwe by members of the public has been going down considerably. The trend started after the Government introduced the multi-currency system in 2009.