A 38-year-old serial cattle rustler from Mashonaland Central was sentenced to 63 years in jail after he was convicted by a Bindura magistrate.
Dzingai Kambanje of Marine village, Madziva pleaded guilty to seven counts of stock theft when he appeared before Bindura magistrate Samantha Dhlamini.
The Standard reports that Kambanje will, however, serve 27 years as the remaining years are running concurrently.
Prosecutor Shiella Kudzai Maribha told the court that from March to August this year the convict stole 16 bovines from different kraals, and sold them to butchery dealers.
Stock thieves recently pounced on Masvingo province, especially in Bikita, Mwenezi and Gutu where they stole hundreds of cattle, with some reportedly working in alliance with corrupt police officers.
Cattle rustling is widespread that President Emmerson Mnangagwa was early this year forced to establish an inter-ministerial committee to tackle cross-border cattle rustling along the Zimbabwe-Botswana border.
There were reports that the thieves were stealing as far as Botswana.