Former Manicaland provincial planner fined for abuse of office

Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent

Former Manicaland Provincial planner, Fungai Munyama, who fraudulently converted land belonging to Mutare Teachers College for institutional expansion, to warehousing and residential use in 2010 has been fined US$600.

Harare Magistrate Mrs Feresi Chakanyuka said in default he will serve five months in prison. In addition, he was given a 12-month wholly suspended sentence on condition that he does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.

She said the court had considered that he was a first-time offender and that he did not benefit anything from the parcelling out of that land. The court noted that although he failed to serve the notice of change of land use to Mutare Teachers College directly, he flighted a notice in a local newspaper advising of the same.

The land has since been returned to the college.

Munyama, who is also a senior pastor at Harvest House International Church in 2010, corruptly issued a public notice indicating the intention to change the use of the land belonging to Mutare Teachers College from institutional expansion to warehousing and residential use.

He did not notify Mutare Teachers College of the ministry’s intention to change the land use. He only notified Mutare Council and Mutare Probation Hostel and Remand who raised their objections on the 10th of April 2010.

Munyama, also misrepresented to his superiors that he had followed all procedures to ascertain that the land was not reserved for institutional expansion purposes.

The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works relied on the misrepresentation made by him and approved a new layout plan for five garden flats, a warehouse, an open space and two churches on the same piece of land.

An investigation by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission uncovered that Munyama got a stand and facilitated his church to get a stand. However, his stand ownership was revoked.