MDC-T councillor for Gwampa ward in Lupane Kayeni Kenni Mpofu (38) allegedly swindled a Zimbabwean man based in South Africa, popularly known as injiva, of R41 200 after falsely claiming to have secured a residential stand at the town centre for him.
SILAS NKALA
This was heard by Lupane resident magistrate Aelene Munamati on Monday when Mpofu appeared before her facing fraud charges which he is denying.
Mpofu’s lawyer Lison Ncube applied for postponement of the trial to prepare his written submissions. Munamati remanded the matter to July 9 for trial.
Prosecutor Wilberforce Ngoshi told the court that Mandla Dube (42) of Makokoba’s Hlalani Flats, who is currently based in South Africa, applied for a residential stand at the Lupane Local Board in the name of his son Brain Dube in 2009 and was placed on the waiting list.
Dube is said to have made an arrangement with Mpofu in November 2009 to check on the status of his application since he was based in South Africa.
It was alleged that in August 2010, Mpofu called Dube in South Africa and made false misrepresentations that the stand he had applied for in his son’s name had been allocated and he had to develop it before council repossess it.
Between August 2010 and December 2013, Dube sent cash amounting to R35 130 and building material meant for the development of the stand.
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The State alleged that Mpofu misled Dube that the stand was under construction during this period.
On June 18 this year, Dube returned from South Africa and visited the council offices to check if the stand was issued to him.
He discovered that his son’s name was still on the waiting list and he reported the matter to the police.
Investigations proved that his application was still pending and Mpofu failed to show the stand he was building for Dube leading to his arrest.
Total prejudice to Dube was R41 230 and building material valued at R6 100 was recovered from Mpofu.
