By A Correspondent- Two deportees from Botswana who escaped from Bulawayo Polytechnic isolation centre a few days before the end of their mandatory 21-day quarantine period, have each been fined $800.

The two were part of a group of 456 returnees and deportees who were recently brought from Plumtree High School to provide them with better living conditions and ease crowding.

They were deported through Plumtree Border Post from Botswana where they were staying illegally. The two were arrested while on their way back to Botswana.

Silas Zimunya (44) of Masere Village in Bindura and Moses Gondo (41) of Matapi Flats in Mbare, Harare were convicted by Bulawayo magistrate Mr Shepherd Mjanja on their own plea to violating quarantine regulations. They were fined $800 each or in default three months in jail.

Prosecuting, Mr Patson Muchingani said Zimunya and Gondo were on quarantine at Bulawayo Polytechnic following their deportation from Botswana last month. The court heard that on May 1 at around 8.30AM, the two accused persons connived to escape from the quarantine centre.

They then scaled a precast wall before jumping out of the quarantine centre.

“The two accused persons jumped out of the quarantine centre after climbing the precast wall and escaped,” said Mr Zimunya.

One of the returnees spotted them and alerted a security guard who in turn reported the matter to the police. Police tracked down the two men and arrested them along the Bulawayo-Plumtree road near Bellevue suburb while waiting for transport to Botswana.-StateMedia