{"id":115626,"date":"2026-02-28T14:38:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts"},"modified":"2026-02-28T14:38:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:38:36","slug":"harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts","title":{"rendered":"Harare Woman Arrested For Selling DStv Decoders Linked To South African Accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Harare woman has been fined US$150 by the Harare Magistrates\u2019 Court after being caught selling MultiChoice DStv decoders linked to South African accounts and managing their subscriptions.<\/p>\n<p>Natasha Maka, 25, appeared before Magistrate Lisa Mutendereki and pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard that on 17 February, MultiChoice Zimbabwe\u2019s anti-piracy manager, Parcion Matikiti, accompanied by police, visited the corner of Mbuya Nehanda and Nelson Mandela streets, where they found Maka selling decoders registered under South African accounts and handling subscriptions for them.<\/p>\n<p>They also discovered that the DStv power supply units and remote controls she was selling were counterfeit.<\/p>\n<p>Maka was arrested, and several items were seized, including five sealed boxes of DStv decoders, multiple remotes, power supply units, a receipt book, a Barclays diary, and a counter book. All items were presented as evidence in court.<\/p>\n<p>Many Zimbabweans use South African DStv accounts, often called \u201cSRAs,\u201d because they are cheaper in US dollars and include channels like SABC 1, 2, and 3, and e.tv, which are not available on Zimbabwe\u2019s DStv service.<\/p>\n<p>But MultiChoice says this violates its terms of service and international copyright laws, as South African accounts are only licensed to broadcast content within South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>MultiChoice has been trying to make its Zimbabwean packages more attractive to curb \u201cdigital border crossing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A recent promotion, \u201cWe Got You,\u201d which is scheduled to end in February 2026, gives subscribers access to higher-tier content at no extra cost.<\/p>\n<p><b>Related:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>No Price Hike For DStv Subscriptions Despite New VAT Rate<\/p>\n<p>Popular Warner Bros. Discovery Channels To Remain On DStv<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Harare woman has been fined US$150 by the Harare Magistrates\u2019 Court after being caught selling MultiChoice DStv decoders linked to South African accounts and managing their subscriptions. Natasha Maka, 25, appeared before Magistrate Lisa Mutendereki and pleaded guilty. The court heard that on 17 February, MultiChoice Zimbabwe\u2019s anti-piracy manager, Parcion Matikiti, accompanied by police, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":115625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Harare Woman Arrested For Selling DStv Decoders Linked To South African Accounts - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harare Woman Arrested For Selling DStv Decoders Linked To South African Accounts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Harare woman has been fined US$150 by the Harare Magistrates\u2019 Court after being caught selling MultiChoice DStv decoders linked to South African accounts and managing their subscriptions. Natasha Maka, 25, appeared before Magistrate Lisa Mutendereki and pleaded guilty. The court heard that on 17 February, MultiChoice Zimbabwe\u2019s anti-piracy manager, Parcion Matikiti, accompanied by police, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-28T12:38:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Harare Woman Arrested For Selling DStv Decoders Linked To South African Accounts\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-28T12:38:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts\"},\"wordCount\":267,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/02\/sm_1772289516.718189.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-woman-arrested-for-selling-dstv-decoders-linked-to-south-african-accounts\",\"name\":\"Harare Woman Arrested For Selling DStv Decoders Linked To South African Accounts - 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