CCC councillor in land case gets bail

Sunday Mail Reporter

CITIZENS COALITION FOR CHANGE (CCC) councillor for Harare ward 21, Blessing Duma, who is facing charges of extortion related to land allocation, has been granted US$100 bail by the Harare Magistrates’ Court.

Duma, who is also the chairperson of the City of Harare Audit Committee, had been remanded in custody on Thursday last week when he initially appeared in court pending his bail hearing on Friday.

The charges stem from allegations that he attempted to coerce the City of Harare’s director of housing and community services, Mr Addmore Nhekairo, into rubber-stamping unprocedural residential stand allocations.

Mr Nhekairo reported Duma to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).

Prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti alleged that in June, Mr Nhekairo’s office received two offer letters for two unserviced residential stands in Mabelreign from Duma without the signature and stamp of the principal housing officer.

The letters were supposed to indicate that the principal housing officer had referred them to Mr Nhekairo’s office.

The two residential stands were for Walter Chigwereva and Danai Dzawanda.

Mr Nhekairo did not process the letters, and instead instituted an internal investigation to uncover the letters’ origins.

“The complainant realised that these letters had not followed procedure and decided to withhold the letters pending an internal investigation pertaining to their origin,” read the court papers.

“On August 26, 2024, and at City of Harare offices, the accused person approached the complainant enquiring on why his office had not released the fraudulently submitted letters that were referred to his offices for signing.”

Duma continued pressuring Mr Nhekairo to sign the letters, threatening to expose him for alleged offences. Mr Nhekairo, however, refused to sign the letters.

“On August 27, 2024, the accused approached the complainant requesting the production of the signed letters, but was received with a negative response,” read the court papers.

“Thereafter, the accused warned the complainant on how his committee would proceed to take adverse action against him, taint Pure Gold and Shelter Zimbabwe.”

Duma then started exerting more pressure on Mr Nhekairo to sign all the letters he had brought to him. Mr Nhekairo then reported the matter to ZACC, resulting in his arrest.

Duma was represented by lawyer Ms Devoted Nyagano. Duma’s bail conditions include residing at his given address, not interfering with State witnesses and reporting to a nearby police station every fortnight. He is scheduled to appear in court again on October 29.