FORMER Harare mayor Hebert Gomba has been arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on fresh allegations of corruption.
Gomba was initially arrested in July last year on
allegations of criminal abuse of office in connection with the sale of stands
in the city.
This time he is being accused of creating stands inside the
Old Hararians Sports Clubopen space and parcelling them out to different
buyers.
Gomba was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare
magistrate Stanford Mambanje yesterday and was remanded to tomorrow for bail
hearing.
Prosecutors said during the period extending from 2018 to
2020, Gomba, who was the Harare mayor and councillor for Glen Norah, connived
with Wellington Mutambirwa, a council evaluation executive, to cause the
creation of commercial stands at the Old Hararians Sports Club open space.
The stands were for a proposed creche, medical centre,
recreational facilities, market place and fuel service station which were to
benefit the council officials from his office.
It is alleged during the plan subdivision, Gomba pressured
Samuel Nyabeze through phone and verbal communication to expedite the
subdivision of stands.
The prosecution alleged Gomba expressed interest in a fuel
service station stand claiming he feared losing that opportunity if a
commission was put in place to run Harare before he could get the stand.
It is alleged Gomba’s actions caused the City of Harare to
come up with a subdivision plan and Nyabeze signed it.
The prosecutors said council then sold three commercial
stands to one family for $5 million without changing the use of the land.
It is alleged Gomba acted unlawfully by influencing the
council against the sections of the Urban Councils Act.
Several senior Harare City Council executives, including
councillors, have been recently arrested for alleged corruption involving the
selling of land. Eight officials, including town clerk Hosea Chisango, who were
all implicated in several cases of fraud involving land deals, have cases
before the courts. Standard
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