Government yesterday failed in its bid to stop Harare mayor Jacob Mafume from reporting for duty claiming he would interfere with investigations into his alleged abuse of office charges.
Mafume was suspended from work in December last year over
alleged shady land deals, but was not brought before a disciplinary committee
within 45 days as is required by the Constitution. This then led him to report
to work last month.
But prosecutor Michael Reza told magistrate Vongai
Muchuchuti-Guuriro that if Mafume continued to go to work, he might put
pressure on the witnesses who are all council workers.
“We are seeking to apply for alteration of bail conditions
of the accused in terms of Section 126 of the Criminal Law Codification. We ask
for the accused not to interfere with witnesses,” Reza said.
“So it is in respect of that condition where the State is
seeking to say the accused person should not visit Town House or any municipal
offices when he is paying bills.”
But Mafume’s lawyer Thabani Mpofu challenged the State
saying the accused was summoned to appear in court, but no facts were given to
him on what he was needed for.
“The accused was summoned to appear in court today. In view
of the summons, we do not know why he is in court. We indicated that we are
here because it’s a court of law, but we were not aware why we were here,”
Mpofu said.
“It leaves us in this disposition and we do not know the
basis of the application. We do not know the reasons why the witnesses are
here. We were supposed to be given statements from the witnesses so that we can
take instruction on the way forward.”
Reza, however, said the summons clearly showed that the
State wanted to alter Mafume’s bail conditions.
Mpofu, however, said his client had not breached any
condition and his going to work was not unlawful. “A breach of what condition,
the second is additional of what bail conditions?” Mpofu asked.
Magistrate Muchuchuti-Guuriro, however, ruled that the
State must serve the accused with full information on the application they
intended to make and postponed the matter to tomorrow.
She then asked Reza why they wanted to stop the accused
from going to Town House. Reza said Mafume was facing criminal abuse of office
charges and he might use his influence on witnesses.
“The record is of criminal abuse of duty. The accused used
his influence to get two stands and all the witnesses are workers of the Harare
City Council.”
Mpofu, however, said he would only respond when he receives
facts of the State’s application.
Meanwhile, Harare City Council was on Tuesday forced to
call off a full council meeting for the second time in two months after failing
to meet the required quorum due to the recall of several MDC Alliance
councillors by the Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC-T.
The MDC-T recalled 23 of the 45 MDC Alliance councillors
last year and created chaos that has seen the city operating with two mayors,
Mafume and Stewart Mutizwa, who is the acting mayor.
This has halted business at the local authority as the
councillors continue to haggle, while service delivery remains at an all-time
low. Mafume confirmed yesterday that the meeting did not take place after
councillors were threatened with arrest by provincial development co-ordinator
Tafadzwa Muguti, who insists that Mtizwa
is in charge of council affairs.
Muguti was not picking calls yesterday. Full council
meetings are responsible for making resolutions that will be implemented by the
technocrats and failure to hold these meetings have a bearing on social service
delivery.
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) said there
was need for councillors to take their work seriously and the government to
stop interfering in council business. “CHRA calls on the remaining councillors
to take council business seriously by attending full council meetings as this
has implications on social service delivery and serious political costs ahead
of 2023 elections,” the residents said.
Government has often accused the opposition of running down
Harare and failing to, among other things provide potable water, refurbish
roads and collect refuse. Newsday
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