Fraud case against Dynamos supremo Bernard Marriot postponed again

By Goodwill Zunidza | New Ziana |

The fraud case against Dynamos supremo Bernard Marriot brought to trial by disenfranchised members of the club again failed to resume at the Harare Magistrates Court yesterday.

Presiding Magistrate Yeukai Dzuda rolled the case over to Wednesday, May 9, 2024 afternoon, promising to tackle the matter without any further delays.

In giving her reasons for postponement Dzuda said she had received the court record too late for her to peruse the contents and commence the cross-examination of lead witness Eric Mvududu.

Both the defence team and witnesses were already packed in the court when search was made for the missing record until it was delivered by a court orderly when the Magistrate was already deep into another matter.

It was the second consecutive day Marriot’s trial had failed to take off after the defence team was absent from the initially scheduled date of Monday.

In the long-running saga, the former players are accusing Marriot of allocating to himself 51% of the club’s shareholding without a board resolution authorizing him to do so.

Mvududu, who is secretary-general of the team’s executive committee reporting to the rival Stanley Chirambadare-led Board of Trustees that Marriot does not recognise, is expected to refute evidence proffered by Marriot’s lawyer Herbert Mutasa to the court when he takes to the stand.

Mvududu told magistrate Dzuda during the last session that Marriot was not a founding player of the team which was formed in 1963 and did not have the powers to run its affairs outside the parameters provided by the club constitution.

Marriot, on the other hand, argues that the club constitution was repealed on November 15, 2008 in a meeting that established a new company Dynamos Pvt Ltd under which he is the sole surviving director.

Mvududu, who leads other witnesses that include the late David George (who left the court a transcript of his grievance), Sam Mukomondo, Ernest Kamba, David Phiri, Garikai Zuze and Barnard Chidziva, has challenged Marriot to produce the minutes of the said 2008 meeting.

After Mvududu’s submissions the rest of the court witnesses will get their turn before the magistrate gives her verdict.

Dzuda has indicated that she intends to conclude all her outstanding cases this week before she moves to Kadoma where she was recently transferred on promotion.