Moffat Mungazi
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
A PRINCIPAL environmental health officer at Mutare City Council – Batsirai Chirau – has been sentenced to 10 months in jail for illegally issuing a fake health report to a local beer outlet.
Chirau (59), was convicted of criminal abuse of duty as a public officer – as defined in Section 174 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) after being found guilty by Mutare magistrate, Ms Perseverance Makala.
Chirau was initially sentenced to 14 months in jail, but four months were suspended on the usual conditions.
The complainants in the case were Mr Takunda Nyamande, the acting Mutare City Council chamber secretary, and Mr Absolom Dube, the regional inspector of the Liquor Licencing Board.
At the time of the commission of offence, Chirau was the acting Environmental Health Manager and Principal Environmental Health Officer at the local authority’s Sakubva offices.
His duties included liaising with the Liquor Licencing Board regarding the issuance and revocation of liquor licences, as well as coordinating the collection of licencing application fees.
To renew a liquor licence, applicants must submit the following documents – copy of their current licence, health report or premises inspection report, and receipt from the accounts section.
If there are no objections, the Liquor Licencing Board will then issue a new licence.
Applicants must then visit the relevant local authority to pay the required council fee.
The State, led by Mr Chris Munyuku alleged that in September 2023, the owner of Drifters Sports Bar, Oliver Zikiti, applied to renew his liquor licence with the Liquor Licensing Board for the period 2023/24.
Zikiti engaged Chirau to conduct a health inspection report.
The court heard that Chirau generated, and issued the health report without the approval and authority of Mutare City Council, and that no health inspection fee was received by the council in respect of Drifters Sports Bar.
Furthermore, Zikiti submitted the health report, dated September 25, 2023 to the Liquor Licensing Board, purporting it to have been issued by Mutare City Council, when in fact it was issued by the accused without the council’s authority.
Mr Munyuku told the court that the board issued a liquor licence based on the health report submitted by Zikiti.
Additionally, Mutare City Council confirmed that it did not receive any licence fee in respect of Drifters Sports Bar.The accused acted in a manner intended to deceive the Liquor Licensing Board into believing that Mutare City Council had issued a health report for Drifters Sports Bar.
In reality, they were aware that no health inspection had been conducted by the council and that no health inspection fee had been paid.
The court also heard that Chirau’s actions led the Liquor Licensing Board to issue a liquor licence for Drifters Bar, causing prejudice to both the board and Mutare City Council.
Specifically, the council was deprived of its health inspection fee and licence fee, totaling US$447, 05.
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