Sydney Mubaiwa
MIDLANDS BUREAU CHIEF

ZVISHAVANE – Provincial Magistrate Miriam Banda has sentenced suspended Zvishavane Town Secretary Tinoda Mukutu (53) to an effective two years in jail for criminal abuse of office.
Mukutu was sentenced together with Housing Director Nhlanhla Ngwenya (44) and Town Engineer Dominic Mapwashike (44).
They were convicted for flouting tender procedures and re-awarding a tender to JM Construction after the contractor failed to fulfil terms of the first contract. The second contract was also awarded without a council resolution.
It was the State case that on May 23, 2016, the local authority entered into a partnership with Monitor Enterprises trading as JM Construction for the servicing of 27 extension stands in the Central Business District (CBD) valued at US$2 772 258.31.
The contract was terminated after the two-year agreed timeframe lapsed before JM Construction completed the task.
A notice of cancellation of the partnership was served to JM Construction by the Town Council’s lawyers Chigariro, Phiri and Partners Legal Practitioners on October 1, 2018.
Council did not restart tender procedures, instead on December 17, 2019, the trio clandestinely negotiated and hand-picked JM Construction to continue with the contract without going to tender.
The trio was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and were out on ZWL$30 000 bail each.