Zvishavane officials jailed for corruption

GWERU – Three senior Zvishavane Town Council officials comprising town secretary, housing
director and town engineer have been jailed two years each for corruption after they flouted tender
regulations and showing favouritism to a company that had failed to deliver on an earlier project.
Town secretary Tinoda Mukutu (53), together with housing director Nhlanhla Ngwenya (44) and
town engineer Dominic Mapwashike (44) were convicted by Gweru Provincial Magistrate Miriam
Banda who presided over their trial.
The trio which was facing criminal abuse of office charges had pleaded not guilty and were all out on
$30 000 bail each.
They were arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) for flouting tender
procedures after awarding the same contract to a company that had failed to fulfil the terms of the
first contract. They were also accused of allegedly renewing the agreement with JM Construction, a
land-developing firm, without a council resolution.
The State represented by Frederick Macheza proved that on May 23, 2016, Zvishavane entered into
a partnership agreement with Monitor Enterprises trading as JM Construction for the servicing of 27
central business district extension stands valued at over US$2.7 million.
JM Construction won the tender of the partnership agreement that was flighted by the town council
but the two-year timeframe lapsed before completion of agreed works resulting in the termination
of the agreement.
A notice of cancellation of the partnership agreement was served to JM Construction by the
council’s lawyers Chigariro, Phiri and Partners Legal Practitioners on October 1, 2018.
Magistrate Banda heard that when the agreement was terminated, Zvishavane town council was
supposed to restart the tendering process by way of flighting an advert in the local press inviting bids
to continue with servicing of the stands.
On December 17, 2019, the trio allegedly connived and contrary to and inconsistent with their duties
clandestinely hand-picked JM Construction again to continue with the contract.
They entered into another new agreement with new conditions for the continued servicing of the 27
stands with JM Construction without a council resolution and without going through the tender
process.