THE trial for eight Harare councillors who are being accused of corruptly allocating 24 industrial stands to themselves continued on Thursday, with the State leading evidence from the council’s acting town clerk, Pakhamile Mabhena Moyo.
Moyo told magistrate Donald Ndirowei that the accused persons had not done anything wrong because their positions allowed them to acquire land through deliberation by the responsible authorities.
He said although he is serving as the council’s acting town clerk, his expertise was limited to the department of water, thus he cannot give an extensive comment regarding the lawlessness of the accused persons’ actions.
However, Kennedy Chikandamina, the acting city valuer and Harare City Council (HCC) estates manager, who testified on Tuesday alleged that there were irregularities done by the accused persons.
He said instructions from the town clerk bypassed standard procedures, allowing selected individuals to receive stands without paying application fees.
“In the case of senior council officials and councillors who were allocated commercial/industrial stands, we received an instruction through a memorandum dated June 17, 2022 from the town clerk directing the allocation of stands as shown on the attached copy.
“As a result of the directive, the applications were not verified and the allocations were done without following the waiting list,” Chikandamina said.
He further stated that: “Among the applicants, [council health services director] Dr Prosper Chonzi has not yet paid the application fee, while councillors Tichaona Mhetu and Brian Matione paid fees after the report had been submitted to the council.”
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According to State prosecutor Tendai Tapi, the accused persons, who include Costa Mande, Gilbert Thamsanqa Hadebe, Maxwell Dutuma, Loveness Gomba, Happymore Gotora, Ian Muteto Makone, Stanley Manasi Manyenga and Shepherd Chikomba, are facing two counts of criminal abuse of duty as public officers.
He said they are all elected Harare City councillors who constitute the finance and development committee.
Tapi alleged that Mande and his co-accused allocated stands to themselves and other senior council officials without following procedure.
It is the State’s case that in June 2022, a committee of senior council officials chaired by Moyo, the acting Harare City Council town clerk, sitting with other council executives recommended on item six of the executive meeting minutes that council employees were to be allocated 20% of all stands created in Harare.
On the same day, Moyo allegedly directed Godfrey Kusangaya, the acting finance director, through an internal memorandum dated June 17, 2022 to start identifying residential and commercial stands for the executives in line with the resolution made by the executive management committee as a matter of urgency and within 14 days.
Tapi further alleged that Mande and his co-accused unlawfully allocated themselves commercial/industrial stands during two meetings held on November 14 and December 14, 2022, respectively.
In executing their plan, the court heard that a councillor under discussion would excuse themselves from the meeting briefly to allow other councillors to allocate him/her a commercial stand.
The absent councillor would then re-join the meeting and would be involved in allocating another colleague commercial stands whereby colleagues would have also excused themselves from the meeting.
Councillors allegedly involved in this rotation were Mande, Dutuma and Gotora.
Tapi also told the court that the committee went on to recommend the illegal allocation of 24 commercial stands in various locations to 12 councillors and 11 senior council officials at Town House and one Member of Parliament.
Tapi stated that in terms of Ministry of Local Government circular 12 (cross referenced CX/7) dated March 18, 2020, a councillor who does not have a residential property within his/her ward is entitled to be allocated a single residential stand in their lifetime and they have no entitlement to preferential treatment as regards commercial or industrial stands.
The prosecutor, however, said the circular states that if they require a commercial stand, they have to follow the normal process like any other person.
Tapi said on the second count, Mande and his co-accused persons resolved to recommend the waiver of the land alienation sub-committee meeting of September 26, 2005, which stipulates that all such stands be advertised inviting tenders.
The court heard that the accused persons went on to recommend the lease of 14 commercial/ industrial stands to senior council employees as a condition of service for the employees, which is outside the committee’s mandate.
However, it is the State’s case that remuneration and perks of council employees are a mandate of the human capital department, which is supposed to initiate the process.
Tapi told the court that Harare City Council does not have a policy which gives privilege to employees to gain commercial or industrial stands on lease as a condition of service.
