FORMER Chitungwiza Municipality director for education, housing and community services, Jemina Gumbo, never signed any of the lease agreements for the 22 commercial stands for which she is accused of having illegally allocated to the business community in the town, the court heard yesterday.
SENIOR COURT REPORTER
Of all the stands that formed part of the current criminal charge of abuse of office against Gumbo, she allegedly signed only two allocation forms and the rest were signed by the State witness, Wadzanai Dube, who is the Chitungwiza administration assistant.
In her evidence, Dube told High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese that she got the instructions to sign the allocation forms from Gumbo.
Gumbo denied she ever issued her with such instructions.
Apparently, Dube said all the stands in question were leased to the beneficiaries by the council’s legal adviser who signed on all the forms as the leaser.
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It also emerged during the trial that Dube was one of the beneficiaries of the commercial stands after having been allocated one under WD Investments, a name derived from her full names.
She, however, professed ignorance as to who allocated her the stand, but said it was not Gumbo.
While giving her evidence-in-chief, Dube, who holds a diploma in administration, told the court she had little knowledge of the English language and as such she did not appreciate the requirements of the Urban Councils Act, which could have enabled her to establish if anything amiss was going on in the council.
The trial continues today.