Staff Reporter
BULAWAYO — The US$4.4 million Ecobank robbery case is facing a fresh setback after a second suspect was released from remand, months after another accused person was acquitted, leaving the prosecution waiting for the extradition of two brothers allegedly linked to the daring heist.
Bhekani Mlilo (39), who had spent about 10 months in custody without a trial date, was freed last Friday after Bulawayo regional magistrate Lungile Ncube refused the State’s application to further remand him.
Mlilo was extradited from Botswana on July 14 after he was arrested while attempting to enter the country from South Africa. He had been facing armed robbery charges arising from the October 3, 2024, robbery in which six armed men allegedly escaped with nearly US$4.5 million in cash and three firearms.
The State, represented by Rumbi Gwishiri, had sought to have Mlilo further remanded to September 28. However, Magistrate Ncube ruled that keeping him in custody indefinitely while waiting for the extradition of other suspects could not be justified.
“The accused has been in remand prison for 10 months with no trial date being allocated. The accused cannot continue being on remand because of the failed extradition of the other suspects,” ruled Ncube. The magistrate said the State could proceed by way of summons once the other suspects had been extradited.
Mlilo’s release follows the acquittal of former Safeguard security guard Sibonginkosi Sibanda (48), who was cleared of money laundering charges by Bulawayo magistrate Patience Madondo on April 1.
Sibanda had been accused of receiving US$100,000 from the robbery proceeds. The State alleged that he used the money to acquire property and other assets, including a house in Mbundane, a truck, a Cowdray Park property, fencing, a borehole at his rural home, and a company registered in the names of his wife and daughter.
But his lawyer, Prince Butshe of Butshe and Associates, successfully challenged the State’s evidence during cross-examination of investigating officer Towoneso Jele.
Jele reportedly admitted that Sibanda’s arrest had been based on intelligence rather than direct evidence linking him to the robbery.
Magistrate Madondo subsequently found that the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Sibanda maintained that his assets were acquired through legitimate earnings, including money he made while serving in the Zimbabwe Republic Police and during his deployment to Liberia between 2005 and 2006.
He said he retired from the police in 2012 with a pension and bought the Cowdray Park house for his daughter in 2023 — a year before the robbery.
The robbery has been described as one of Bulawayo’s most audacious cash heists. At about 3:30 p.m. on October 3, 2024, a Safeguard cash-in-transit team was loading money at Ecobank’s NRZ Building branch at the corner of 9th Avenue and Fife Street when a white Ford Ranger allegedly pulled up.
Police allege that six armed men wearing masks and bucket hats jumped out of the vehicle and attacked the security guards.
The gang allegedly used AK-47 rifle butts to assault and disarm the guards before taking three metal trunks containing US$3,983,500 from the 9th Avenue branch. A further US$465,500 from the Bradfield branch was also allegedly taken.
The robbers allegedly seized three firearms—two pistols and a shotgun—before throwing the cash boxes into the Ford Ranger and fleeing. The entire operation reportedly took just 149 seconds.
Police have alleged that the gang had insider information and that the vehicle had been fitted with fake Zimbabwean registration plates, AGP 2333, which were actually assigned to a Mazda Demio.
The two remaining suspects, Abraham and Elijah Vumbunu, were arrested in South Africa in July and are still awaiting extradition to Zimbabwe. Their extradition is now central to the State’s efforts to move the case forward, after two suspects have already escaped criminal proceedings through acquittal or release from remand.
These developments have raised fresh questions over the prosecution of the high-profile robbery, which remains one of the biggest cash heists reported in Zimbabwe in recent years.
