Harare City Council head of planning Priscilla Charumbira yesterday appeared in court on allegations of changing land use for open spaces and wetlands without following laid-down procedures.
Charumbira was facing criminal abuse of duty charges when
she appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mrs Bianca Makwande.
Prosecutor Mr George Manokore applied for her placement on
remand before telling the court that he was also opposed to bail.
Charumbira’s lawyer, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, challenged
the placement of his client on remand, saying the facts read by the State did
not disclose an offence. Madhuku said there was no nexus between Charumbira and
the alleged offence.
“The allegations do not constitute the offence of criminal
abuse of office,” he said. “The facts read that the accused supervised the
subdivision of land without the approval of the Ministry of Local Government,
Public Works and Urban Development whereas it was not the duty of the accused
with the office she was occupying, to seek approval by that Ministry,” said
Prof Madhuku.
Mr Manokore insisted that Charumbira had a case to answer
as her initials appeared on the layout plan and signature on the memorandum
announcing the land use change. Mrs Makwande rolled over the matter to today
for ruling in the bail application.
The State insisted that Charumbira had a case to answer as
her initials appeared on the layout plan and signature on the memorandum
announcing the land use changed for recreational purposes by the Harare City
Council. The court heard that the piece of land in question was at the corner
of Boshoff Drive and Seke Road measuring three hectares and was reserved for
recreational purposes by the Harare City Council.
It is the State’s case that sometime in 2016, Charumbira,
in her capacity as the town planner and knowing laws regarding change of
reservation of property in question, acted contrary to her duties by unlawfully
supervising planning and later subdivision of the land from recreational to
commercial without the approval of the then Ministry of Local Government,
Public Works and Urban Development. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment