Online Reporter
PeterMatika, [email protected]
FORMER Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Obert Manduna has been granted US$100 bail by the High Court of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, pending his appeal of the conviction and sentence.
Manduna had been sentenced to an effective two years in jail after being convicted of defrauding a Bulawayo woman of US$5,900 in an alleged botched residential stand deal.
In his appeal, Manduna, represented by Mr Tanaka Mungayi of Tanaka Law Chambers in Bulawayo, contends that the case is civil with no criminal element.
He argues that the court erred in imposing a custodial sentence of 24 months, which should have allowed for a fine or community service option.
Manduna, who represented Nketa/ Emganwini constituency, was arrested last year at his Ascot residence at Kenilworth Towers by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).
He pleaded not guilty to fraud but was convicted by Bulawayo provincial magistrate Mr Richard Ramaboea.
He was sentenced to 54 months in prison but six months of the sentence were suspended on condition that he does not within the next five years commit a similar offence. A further 24 months were suspended on condition that he restitutes the complainant, Ms Sithulisiwe Sibanda.
In his mitigation, Manduna pleaded for leniency, stating that he was a breadwinner and took care of his family.
According to court documents, it was alleged that between October 2020 and February 2022, Manduna used a fake power of attorney to convince Ms Sibanda that he could sell her Stand 7278 Cowdray Park for US$6,500.
The Bulawayo City Council had reportedly repossessed the stand that Manduna was attempting to sell.
Ms Sibanda, who had paid Manduna US$5,900 for the stand, got suspicious and reported him to the authorities.
Meanwhile, a South Africa-based businessman Mr Farai Kwenda, who had accused Manduna of defrauding him similarly, has since dropped the charges, after he was restituted.
Mr Kwenda has since filed an affidavit to that effect at the magistrates’ court in Bulawayo.
