Former town clerk thrown behind bars
By Farai Kuvirimirwa
FORMER Chitungwiza Town Clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa — who swindled the local authority of over US$80 000 — was on Friday jailed for an effective two-and-a-half years.
Harare magistrate Mr Hosea Mujaya convicted Tanyanyiwa on three counts of fraud and concealing from a principal a personal interest in a transaction. He sentenced him to six years in jail, but set aside 18 months on condition of good behaviour.
A further two years were suspended on condition that Tanyanyiwa restitutes US$80 000 to Chitungwiza Municipality by December 30.
On the count pertaining to concealing a personal interest from a principal (Chitungwiza Municipality), Mr Mujaya ordered Tanyanyiwa to pay US$300 fine or spend a month in jail.
He was also slapped with one year on another count of prejudicing the council of US$6 500. However, the sentence will run concurrently with the sentence on the first count. Mr Mujaya said Tanyanyiwa deserved a custodial sentence since the offence was premeditated.
“He was not supposed to be under the impression of running Chitungwiza council as if he was running his tobacco farm,” said Mr Mujaya.
“He offered to restitute the local authority. It could have saved him had he done that before sentencing. Your former employer suffered because of your behaviour and your conduct was out of greed and premeditation. He acted in cahoots with co-employees and he deserves a custodial sentence.”
Earlier on, Tanyanyiwa’s lawyer Mr Admire Rubaya had implored the court to be lenient with his client, saying he was a first offender and imprisonment was not appropriate to meet the justice of the offence.
When the trial started, Tanyanyiwa was facing 10 counts of fraud, but was cleared of seven due to lack of evidence. Prosecutor Mr Oliver Marwa had called for a custodial sentence, which he said was proper to deter would-be offenders.
“He started his crime career from the deep end and it was premeditated. Instead of working for the people, he decided to steal from them and abuse his office,” he said.
The prosecution proved that Tanyanyiwa, knowing that he had no money to buy a house, hatched a plan to defraud Chitungwiza Municipality and took US$80 000 from council to buy a house in Chisipite.
He also corruptly concealed his personal interest in a transaction from a principal during the period extending from September to December in 2011 when he offered the Chisipite house through his estate agent for rental to Chitungwiza director of urban planning Mr Conrad Muchesa.
With the intention to deceive, Tanyanyiwa did not disclose his personal interest in the house to his employer and council ended up paying him US$1 300 per month for five months as rental for his property. As a result, council suffered a prejudice of US$6 500.
