{"id":39040,"date":"2021-04-23T18:07:24","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T16:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?p=39040"},"modified":"2021-04-23T18:05:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T16:05:49","slug":"mdc-alliance-councillor-arrested-over-tender-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mdc-alliance-councillor-arrested-over-tender-scam","title":{"rendered":"MDC Alliance Councillor Arrested Over Tender Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Zimbabwe<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>By James Muonwa, Mashonaland West Correspondent<\/b> – KARIBA MDC Alliance councillor, Tendai Mapondera has been dragged to court for alleged corruption after awarding contracts to a company in which she is a director.<\/p>\n

The company would then supply goods to the resort town\u2019s municipality.<\/p>\n

Mapondera (41) is Ward 5 councillor in Mahombekombe suburb.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday this week, she was arraigned before the Chinhoyi provincial magistrate Ruth Moyo facing abuse of office charges following her arrest by investigators from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZAAC) Monday.<\/p>\n

The matter had to be referred to Chinhoyi Magistrate\u2019s Court as the Kariba resident magistrate was reportedly off duty.<\/p>\n

Moyo granted Mapondera $50 000 bail, coupled with reporting conditions. She is expected back in court on 13 May for routine remand.<\/p>\n

However, this followed strenuous attempts by state counsel Kesia Teveraishe to deny Mapondera bail on suspicion she could interfere with witnesses and investigations.<\/p>\n

The state also argued the accused had several similar matters under investigations.<\/p>\n

ZAAC investigations officer Maxwell Nyamapfeni said as a councillor, the accused person was powerful and might intimidate and victimise witnesses whose statements are yet to be recorded and jeorpadise investigations.<\/p>\n

The state also alleged Mapondera was likely to abscond as she resides near the porous border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, which needs a mere gate pass to cross.<\/p>\n

However, defence lawyer Clara Phiri quashed the assertions arguing the reasons proffered by the state in opposing bail were weak.<\/p>\n

The state case against Mapondera is that as chairperson of the council Environmental Management and Works Committee, she corruptly concealed from her principal a personal interest in a transaction as defined in Section 173 (3)(a)(ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.<\/p>\n

The court heard that the Environmental Management and Works Committee had a mandate to receive management reports from the engineering department and deliberate on issues contained in the reports before making recommendations to full council for adoption or resolution.<\/p>\n

It was further heard that Heirpaw Investments had its directors listed as Mapondera and Gift Chitehwe.<\/p>\n

During period extending from February 2020 to March this year, Heirpaw Investments got contracts to supply steel and roofing sheets for the construction of Kariba People\u2019s Market sheds.<\/p>\n

The court heard on 25 February 2020, the engineering department represented by director Ndumiso Nyaningwe presented a report to Mapondera\u2019s committee where he reported on the award of a contract to Heirpaw Investments for supply and delivery of building materials for the vendor\u2019s market in Nyamhunga township.<\/p>\n

Mapondera, as director of Heirpaw Investments, chaired the meeting and failed or neglected to declare her interest in the company.<\/p>\n

On 25 June last year, assistant engineering director Alex Machaya attended a meeting of the same committee chaired by Mapondera where he reported on progress at the vendors\u2019 market under construction.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Machaya highlighted that 75% of the steel was supplied by Heirpaw Investments in the fourth month of a contract valid for three months.<\/p>\n

The supply of the steel was scheduled within 14 days from date of signing the contract.<\/p>\n

Mapondera, again, failed or neglected to declare her interest in Heirpaw Investments, neither did she recuse herself to allow for remedial action to be recommended to full council.<\/p>\n

The state alleges the councillor\u2019s continued non-disclosure and non-recusal allowed her to protect her company to the detriment of the municipality whose project was stalled.<\/p>\n

It was averred in court, on 9 September 2020, Mapondera chaired another meeting where she also concealed her links with the contractor.<\/p>\n

As a result of Mapondera\u2019s actions, Heirpaw Investments\u2019 contract with council was not terminated when it failed to supply the required building materials according to the terms of the contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. By James Muonwa, Mashonaland West Correspondent – KARIBA MDC Alliance councillor, Tendai Mapondera has been dragged to court for alleged corruption after awarding contracts to a company in which she is a director. The company would then supply goods to the resort town\u2019s municipality. Mapondera (41) is Ward 5 councillor in Mahombekombe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35,12,15],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":["post-39040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nMDC Alliance Councillor Arrested Over Tender Scam - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By James Muonwa, Mashonaland West Correspondent - KARIBA MDC Alliance councillor, Tendai Mapondera has been dragg ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mdc-alliance-councillor-arrested-over-tender-scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MDC Alliance Councillor Arrested Over Tender Scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By James Muonwa, Mashonaland West Correspondent - 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