A 24-year-old Zimbabwean pastor was fined US$400 or three months in jail on Friday for attempting to cross illegally into South Africa through the Beit Bridge Border Post, using his brother’s passport.

Chikire Ponciano Chativenga of House Number 16344 Tsvoritsvoto in Masvingo was convicted on his own plea of guilty to contravening a section of the Immigration Act by a local magistrate, Mr Carrington Karidzagundi.

He was further slapped with a three-month sentence, wholly suspended for three years, on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.

Clad in a green ankle-length robe, Chativengawho appeared lost in his own world and kept nodding his head throughout the court proceedings. He told the court that he intended to go to South Africa to attend a church meeting.

The court heard that on 10 November, Chativenga arrived at the Beit Bridge Border Post and as part of the normal procedure he presented “his” passport to an immigration officer manning the counters. However, on closely scrutinizing the document, the immigration officer discovered that the passport did not belong to Chativenga.

The passport belonged to his brother, Coster Chativenga. The official seized the passport and a report was subsequently made to the police, leading to Chativenga’s arrest.