Africa-Press – Zambia. Former Post Master General MacPherson Chanda and two others have filed a notice of appeal against the conviction and sentencing to two years imprisonment for 13 counts of theft by the public servant by the Ndola Magistrate Court.
In her ruling, Magistrate Kaunda Sakwanda found Chanda, Former Finance Director Best Mwaiche and Isaac Kamwimba guilty, giving the three an option of a fine amounting to K350 million.
Lawyers to the trio have stated that they do not agree with the reasoning of the magistrate and have appealed. They are contesting that the magistrate misdirected herself in the law and in fact.
the magistrate errored both in fact and law when she convicted them over diversion of funds when the said funds never left the Zampost accounts and the practice to move funds between two organizational accounts was continued by Chanda’s successors who strangely are not before any courts if at all there was anything wrong with it. And speaking on behalf of former Zampost retirees, Sylvester Mwamba said Chanda was being persecuted and not prosecuted.
“The court has sent to prison a man who never stole a single ngwee from ZAMPOST but someone who brought about innovation and worked hard to ensure us retirees got our money after waiting for years. Some of our friends died before receiving their dues until Chanda came in. You cannot take politics away from this case. How does the magistrate convict people for stealing money which never left the organization? In the interest of justice, let a different and fair court reverse this injustice”, he said.
Another ZAMPOST employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said the judgement was a sham and it was sad that the media, both public and private decision to create a false impression that there was corruption and theft by the three when in fact not.
“This is a sad day in the history of justice in Zambia. How do you say the three unlawfully diverted social cash transfer (SCT) funds amounting to K335, 108,834 without authority when the money moved from one ZAMPOST account to another. The money never left the organization contrary to the impression being created out there. There are no elements of theft in this matter.
As a matter of fact even the management which took over from Mr Chanda continued with the same practice and how come they are not before the courts of law? The system has exerted pressure to arrive at this notorious judgement in order to justify the so-called fight against corruption. Any fair and sensible judge will overturn this ruling and the three gentlemen will have the last laugh”, he said. The case was before the Economic and Financial Crimes Court Magistrate Kaunda Sakwanda.
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