Danisa Masuku and Mkhululi Ncube
BULAWAYO City Council’s (BCC) 2027 proposed budget presentation nearly failed to take place on Thursday after the arrest of Finance and Development Committee chairperson Councillor Mpumelelo Moyo left the local authority scrambling to find someone to present the estimates.
The presentation, which had been scheduled for 2.30 PM at the council chambers, was thrown into uncertainty after councillors and council officials reportedly discovered at the last minute that Clr Moyo would not be available.
According to council standing orders, the Finance and Development Committee chairperson is expected to present the proposed budget, with the deputy chairperson, Councillor Dumisani Nkomo, taking over in his absence.
However, council sources said officials had not been aware that Clr Moyo had been returned to prison following the collapse of his appeal proceedings at the Bulawayo High Court.
The local authority was consequently forced to make last-minute arrangements for Clr Nkomo to step in and present the budget.
In an unusual moment before the presentation, Clr Nkomo, who was reportedly not dressed for the formal occasion, had to be provided with a BCC-branded jacket by Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube.
Councillors broke into laughter as Clr Nkomo left the chambers to put on the jacket before returning to make the presentation.
Mayor David Coltart apologised to members of the public and the media for the delayed start of proceedings, although he did not disclose the reason for the delay.
Clr Moyo’s absence followed a setback in his bid to challenge his conviction and sentence in a US$20 000 bribery case.
He was returned to prison after High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi struck his appeal off the roll because of irregularities in the papers and directed his legal team to put the documents in order.
His lawyer, Mr Tinashe Runganga of Tanaka Law Chambers, said the appeal record had become complicated following several changes in legal representation.
“There were some challenges with the record in the system. The appellant changed legal representatives several times,” said Mr Runganga.
“The first lawyer filed a notice of appeal and grounds of appeal in February, but there was no signature. The second lawyer also filed the same and submitted heads of argument. When I was now representing him, I was asked to file grounds of appeal,” he said.
“The other grounds of appeal were therefore supposed to be removed from the record in the system, but that was not done.
“So when we recently appeared, the Judge said he could not make head or tail of the case because there were a lot of submissions that were appearing on the record. So now we have to start the whole process afresh, hence, he was sent back to jail. But we are still working on the matter,” he said.
Clr Moyo was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Bulawayo magistrates court, with six months suspended, leaving him to serve an effective 12 months.
He was convicted of demanding US$20 000 from Labenmon Investments in exchange for facilitating approval of a 5.6-hectare piece of land in Cowdray Park, where the company intended to construct a cement-mixing plant.
Prosecutor Mr Kelvin Guvheya told the court that Clr Moyo, who chairs the council’s Finance and Development Committee, had solicited the money from the company.
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission officers arrested him shortly after he allegedly received the money from company representative Ms Tsitsi Nyathi at her house in a trap set by the complainant.
According to the State, Ms Nyathi had lured Clr Moyo to her house to collect the US$20 000. He allegedly claimed that 20 councillors had facilitated the land approval and each wanted US$1 000.
Clr Moyo was initially represented by Mr Prince Butshe of Butshe and Partners, who filed the appeal on his behalf. He later engaged Mr Nqobani Sithole before switching to Mr Runganga.
