Scholarships fraud case in limbo

Nyore Madzianike
Senior Court Reporter
THE recent death of ex-Cabinet minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe has thrown the State’s case against three officials from the Presidential and National Scholarships Department on charges of fraud into jeopardy as the late national hero was a star witness in the criminal proceedings.

Dr Mushohwe, a former executive director of the Presidential Scholarship Fund, was due to appear in court last Friday to testify in the ongoing fraud trial.

He died in Harare on Monday last week and was buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

He was set to testify against Oliver Ngoni Mucherwa, Godknows Mupembe and Silence Mubariki (nee Matibhiri), who are charged with fraud.

The three allegedly inflated the number of days they were set to attend graduation ceremonies at Fort Hare University in South and defrauded the department of US$6 000 in travel and subsistence allowances.

They are all denying the charges.

Mucherwa, was at the time of the offence, acting director in the department before he was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

Mupembe was an office orderly while Mubariki was the acting director scholarships administration.

Mr Phineas Manyange, the finance director from the same department, has since testified and now the State has to decide on how to proceed with its case following the death of another key witness. The State led by Mr Ephraim Zinyandu had it that on April 16, 2019, the late Dr Mushohwe received an invitation letter from University of Fort Hare through a departmental email to attend the 2019 graduation ceremonies in South Africa.

The graduation ceremonies were to be held on May 2 and 3 at Abbotsford Christian Church Campus, East London and on May 15, 16 and 17 at Alice Campus Sports Complex, according to the State.

Due to other commitments, the late Dr Mushohwe could not attend the graduation ceremonies and decided to send Mucherwa to attend a function that was held at Abbotsford Christian Church Campus.

The late national hero also decided to send Mupembe and Mubariki nee Matibhiri to attend the graduation ceremony at Alice Campus Sports Complex.

It is alleged that the three applied for Cabinet authority indicating travel and subsistence for April 30 to May 9, 2019 for the Abbotsford Christian Church Campus function and May 13 to 25 for that at Alice Campus Sports Complex.

The trio then allegedly forwarded their application to Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Dr Martin Rushwaya’s office for approval. Dr Rushwaya returned the application Mr Manyange so the invitation letters and cover letter could be attached to the application.

Upon receiving the application and attached documents, Mr Manyange called Mucherwa and Mubariki nee Matibhiri to his office and told them to bring the invitation letter. They replied that there was another invitation letter, which was received from the University of Fort Hare with amended dates for the graduation ceremonies.Mubariki, nee Matibhir,i is alleged to have taken another invitation letter with amended dates to Mr Manyange’s office.

According to the State, the new invitation letter had doctored dates for Abbotsford Christian Church Campus inflating the graduation days by five days and doctored the dates for the Alice Campus Sports Complex function inflating the dates by seven days.

The late Dr Mushohwe is said to have later received a letter of appreciation from Professor P. Osode from the University of Fort Hare through his private email, wherein the university was thanking him for sending the three officials to represent him during the graduation ceremonies.

The State alleges that the letter to late Dr Mushohwe had dates which were on the initial invitation letter.

Mucherwa was supposed to claim US$1 176 for the official four days, according to dates indicated on the actual graduation invitation letter and so the department lost the extra US$1 752 paid in travelling and subsistence allowance and entertainment allowance for the inflated days.

Mupembe was supposed to claim US$1 152 for the official five days, but allegedly caused the State to lose US$1 824 paid for the inflated days. Mubariki nee Matibhiri also allegedly caused the State to lose US$2 376 paid for the number of inflated days.

After the Cabinet approval, Mucherwa received US$2 924 instead of US$1 176, Mupembe received US$2 976 instead S$1 152 while Mubariki nee Matibhiri received US$3 364 instead of US$1 488-00, according to the State.