SUSPENDED Zanu PF Harare youth chair Godwin Gomwe’s $46 000 extortion trial continued yesterday with a State witness, Peter Dzama, conceding under cross-examination that Glen Norah Housing Co-operation Consortium was a legal nullity and that the cash requests by the youth leader were unlawful.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Dzama, who was giving evidence before trial magistrate Tendai Mahwe, made the concession during cross-examination following a barrage of questions from Gomwe’s lawyer Advocate Thembinkosi Magwaliba.
“The consortium is not recognised at law as the principal Act on co-operatives does not recognise them,” Dzama said.
“Yes, I knew that the requests from the Zanu PF youths were unlawful.”
As the cross-examination gathered momentum, Dzama struggled to justify why he paid the youths and also why he did not make a police report if he knew their requests were unlawful.
“I don’t recall the dates, but the report to Harare Central Police Station on May 28, 2015 was not the first one given that on two other occasions reports were made, but not acted upon,” Dzama said.
“We (the consortium) had earlier written letters to police stations such as Glen Norah, Harare Central, Southerton, Police General Headquarters and even the Dog Section, but to no avail,” he added.
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Dzama further conceded it was the consortium leadership that had approached a certain person, identified in court only as Chivasa, to act as a facilitator between the consortium and the party youth leaders.
“The facilitator (Chivasa) was obtained by the Palmer Vision Housing Co-operative chairman and the consortium leadership endorsed the idea,” Dzama said.
Magwaliba then asked Dzama as to why the leadership of a legal nullity had accepted to pay the money that did not belong to them but individual co-operatives to which he replied: “It’s difficult, but we were under pressure to do so.”
The trial was adjourned to August 13 this year when Magwaliba and Rungano Mahuni will continue cross-examining the witness.
Gomwe is jointly charged with Muchineripi Mupindu, Fidelis Ndaradza, Haruwandi Munyawiri, Humphrey Madenyika, Josephine Hadziindi, Norah Toronga and Moses Handiseni, who all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Venencia Mutake appeared for the State.
