Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]
FORMER Zanu-PF councillor and Gweru businessman Charles Simbi and his wife, Zodwa, have been acquitted by the High Court of forgery and fraud charges linked to a disputed resettlement offer letter for land at Kanuck Farm along the Gweru-Shurugwi Road.
Masvingo High Court judge, Justice Sunsley Zisengwe, sitting with Justice Christopher Dube-Banda, on Friday, upheld the couple’s appeal and set aside both the conviction and sentence imposed by a Gweru provincial magistrate last year.
The couple, through their lawyers, Mr Esau Mandipa of Mandipa, Makwara and Chikukwa Legal Practitioners and Brian Muzenda of Hore and Partners, filed an application at the High Court challenging their conviction and sentencing by Gweru provincial magistrate Ms Beaulity Dube.
The pair had each been sentenced to 18 months in prison for forgery, with six months suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour, leaving an effective 12-month custodial term.
However, the judges ruled the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The magistrate erred in convicting the couple when there was no evidence of forgery in respect of the offer letter. Manyakara, who testified on behalf of Lands, did not unequivocally dispute his signature on the offer letter in question, nor the stamp,” read the judgment.
“The acting chief executive officer for Vungu Rural District Council at the time also did not dispute the official stamp on the offer letter. It was therefore not safe for the magistrate to convict under such circumstances.”
The State had alleged that Simbi used his wife to forge an offer letter falsely claiming they had been allocated Plot 42 at Kanuck Farm under the land reform programme.
Prosecutors further claimed the document was later used to assert ownership of a 10-hectare plot where gold deposits had reportedly been discovered.
In their application, the couple argued the trial court had erred in both law and fact. They maintained the resettlement permit was genuine and had been lawfully obtained from the relevant authorities
The appellants also argued that the magistrate had misdirected herself by applying the doctrine of common purpose where it was not applicable, and that the lower court had improperly shifted the burden of proof onto them.
The High Court agreed, substituting the sentence for each accused after finding them not guilty and acquitting them on both counts.
Simbi is one of 53 beneficiaries allocated land at Kanuck 4 Farm under the land reform programme.
The acquittal brings to an end a case that had drawn attention in Midlands land and mining circles, given allegations that the disputed plot contained gold deposits.
