Gudyanga appeal hearing deferred

Chief Court Reporter

Jailed former Mines and Mining Development permanent secretary Francis Gudyanga will have to wait a little longer before his High Court appeal against both conviction and 30-month effective sentence for corruption is heard, because his defence lawyer wants to add some more arguments.

He is at the moment behind bars serving a jail term for corruptly receiving sitting allowances for the board of the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) while that board was not in place.

Yesterday, his appeal before Justice Benjamin Chikowero hit a snag after it was postponed to July 27 when his legal counsel requested for time to file supplementary heads of argument.

Gudyanga took the matter to the Higher Court on appeal challenging both conviction and sentence.

The trial court, in February this year, sentenced Gudyanga to an effective 30 months after suspending 18 months of the four year term on condition that he paid back the US$25 225 he received in sitting allowances from the non-existent board.

In his notice of appeal, Gudyanga argued even if his conviction was upheld, and he argued there were irregularities in that finding, the sentence should have been a lot less: two years with 18 months suspended on condition that he did not commit a similar offence and the final six months suspended on condition he repaid the allowances received within one month of the date of sentence.

This would mean that if he paid back the money, he would do no jail time.

His main ground of appeal against conviction is that the court relied on bank statements showing the inflow of the US$25 228, but that there was no evidence led that this money came from the MMCZ as board fees.

The second ground was that the conviction was for receiving US$25 228, but the original charge had a different sum.

His third ground was that his co-accused who was acquitted at the close of the State’s case, former Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa, was his principal who assigned the duties, approved payments and appointed Gudyanga to do the duties of the board chairperson of MMCZ.

Gudyanga argued that he could not be convicted once the then minister was cleared.

He also said that the court erred when it ordered him to pay back the money in United State dollars contrary to Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019 and the provisions of the Finance Act.