Mandihlare was found guilty of fraud and alternatively
corruptly using a false document, when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs
Feresi Chakanyuka.
Ten months of the sentence were suspended on condition that
he does commit a similar offence in the next five years.
The complainant was Mr Japson Nemusesu, the Chamber
Secretary for Chitungwiza Municipality.
Mandihlare, of Zengeza 3, works under the roads section in
the Works Department.
His duties among others, include preparing bills of
quantity and preparing acquittals for grants received in the roads section.
Prosecutor Mr Ephraim Zinyandu proved that sometime in May
2021, Chitungwiza Municipality sought to undertake road rehabilitation under
the Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme Phase 1 and 2 funded by a grant
from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration.
The project focused on the rehabilitation of Maeresa and
Gura roads in Chitungwiza. The local authority hired two tipper trucks from
Ripcare Investments (Pvt) Ltd to ferry gravel to construction sites and
payments were processed in five-day cycles as the jobs were being completed.
Vehicles AFJ 1301 and AFJ 3375 commenced work on the May 7,
2021 and Chitungwiza Municipality assigned its general hands to perform time
keeping duties so that council could keep track of time the hired vehicles were
being utilised.
For the first week, both vehicles were recorded to be used
for the intended purpose as shown by valid time sheets that were submitted by
the assigned timekeepers.
The time sheets formed the foundation of the payment made
to Ripcare Investments Pvt Ltd, as they confirmed the contractor’s performance.
The court heard that due to non payment, Sam Bee Logistics
withdrew the vehicle AFJ 1301 that had been subcontracted by Ripcare
Investments Pvt Ltd after 10 days of work.
Investigations revealed that during the period when the
vehicles were hired, Chitungwiza Municipality assigned general hands Nyasha
Chirumiko, Gift Nyamakambo and Method Mutabeni to do time keeping duties.
They produced log sheets and submitted them to Mandihlare
for further processing.
Mandihlare, as part of his duties, was supposed to prepare
daily tipper time sheets using the general hands’ log sheets to confirm that
the tipper truck AFJ 1301 indeed provided service to Chitungwiza Municipality.
However, Mandihlare disregarded the general hands’ log
sheets by preparing Daily Plant Return-Hired Tipper time sheets that purported
that vehicle AFJ 1301 had provided service to Chitungwiza Municipality yet it
was not true.
Mandihlare misrepresented to his superiors by intentionally
falsely reporting that vehicle AFJ 1301 had been providing service from May 17,
2021 to June 31, 2021 to Chitungwiza Municipality yet he knew very well that
the vehicle had not provided any service as it had been withdrawn by its
owners.
The Daily Plant Return-Hired Tipper sheets for vehicle AFJ
1301 were then submitted to the finance director for payment and the payments
were made through a series of transactions that totalled $1 190 800.
Council suffered a prejudice of $1 190 800 and nothing was
recovered. Herald
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