Former mayor implicated in case

in Chitungwiza without following laid down procedure. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Mr Admire Rubaya, the first witness Mrs Wadzanayi Dube said seven of the 22 stands were allocated with the directives of Mr Marange.
The court also heard that Gumbo never signed on any of the allocation papers and that Ms Dube’s signature appeared on most of the allocation forms.
Mrs Dube is the administrative assistant in the municipality’s housing department. It also came out in the trial that Ms Dube was one of the 22 beneficiaries. She allegedly registered her commercial stand under a non-existent company called WD Investments.
The visibly jittery Ms Dube had to be offered a seat on the witness’ stand when Mr Rubaya grilled her during cross-examination.
Ms Dube confirmed in court that she was the one who signed as the applicant and again signed on behalf of the allocating officer for the stand allocated to her. She told the court that when she appended her signature on the allocation documents for the bulk of the 22 stands in question she was acting on behalf of her boss, Gumbo.
Ms Dube said at Chitungwiza Municipality she used to act on verbal instructions from superiors and that it was the tradition at the workplace.
She also admitted in court that the lease agreements for the 22 beneficiaries were entered between the beneficiaries and the municipality.
In her defence outline read at the commencement of her trial by Mr Rubaya on Tuesday, Gumbo denied ever corruptly allocating the stands.
Gumbo argued that the charges were trumped up by her detractors. She described the allegations as “malicious, frivolous and vexatious”.
Gumbo said the absence of her signature in the allocation papers exonerated her from any involvement in the allocation of the said stands.
She denied instructing Ms Dube or any other person to sign the allocation papers on her behalf saying in her absence, her deputy would sign.
Gumbo maintained that whenever she allocated stands, she would append her signature. Mr Rubaya continues with his cross-examination today.