Ex-ZPC chair’s appeal struck off roll

Court Reporter
The High Court anti-corruption division yesterday refused to hear the appeal of former Zimbabwe Power Company board chairman Stanley Kazhanje against both conviction and an effective one-year jail term imposed on him for taking a US$10 000 bribe over the Gwanda solar project.

Kazhanje was convicted of receiving the bribe from Intratrek Zimbabwe, owned by Wicknell Chivayo.

Kazhanje started serving his sentence at Chikurubi Maximum Prison before being released on $1 000 bail in October last year, pending the outcome of his appeal to the High Court. Through his lawyers, Kazhanje brought his appeal before Justice Felistas Chatukuta and Justice Pisirayi Kwenda, sitting as an appeal court. The judges found the grounds of appeal filed by Kazhanje defective and incurable at law, resulting in the court striking the matter off the roll, meaning there is now no appeal before the court.

When the High Court last year granted Kazhanje bail pending appeal, it ruled that the appeal had prospects of success.

Kazhanje was convicted for taking the US$10 000 bribe from Intratrek Zimbabwe, a company which had been awarded a US$172 million tender to build a 100 megawatt solar power plant in Gwanda.

The trial court heard that the former ZPC chairman received the money to influence him to stop the power utility from cancelling the tender after Chivayo was accused of breaching its contract terms.

But Kazhanje insisted that the money was paid for past engineering consultancy services he had performed for Intratrek.

The court heard he had not declared the information and had concealed from his employer the payment from Intratrek.

Kazhanje was slapped with a three-year jail term for concealing a US$10 000 transaction he received from Chivayo’s Intratrek, but two years were suspended on condition of good behaviour.  In convicting Kazhanje, Harare regional magistrate Mr Hosiah Mujaya ruled that the State had proved its case. Kazhanje failed to submit evidence of receipt of the money or the nature of work done by his company, Terminal Engineering, at Intratek, to justify the payment and former Energy Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire, to whom Kazhanje claimed to have declared his dealings with Intratrek, denied he had been told.

Prosecutor Mr Tapiwa Mapfuwa appeared for the State.