Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Parents and guardians of children at Coghlan Primary School are unsettled amid fears of a mysterious illness which hit a number of pupils at the school last week. It is reported that some pupils had [...]

AN ENRAGED Bulawayo woman who is also in a beleaguered marriage shamed her husband, accusing him of being a “chronic womaniser” who is sexually attracted to maids. Sinikiwe Chiota told the court that apart from [...]

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It’s the explosive Jackson documentary everyone is talking about. Here’s where you can stream Leaving Neverland in South Africa. One of the biggest and most controversial documentaries ever, Leaving Neverland examines the allegations of sexual [...]

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Mutare, Tuesday, to visit the areas affected by Cyclone Idai that may have caused over a thousand deaths in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The lives of hundreds of thousands of people are at risk after a cyclone ripped into central Mozambique and heavy rains continue to fall. Aid groups report people clinging to rooftops and trees as [...]

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces have been commended for standing with the people during the trying times of Cyclone Idai that has left 98 dead and hundreds missing. The Army has recently been accused of being anti-people through unleashing a trail of brutality during the January violent protests. Shadowy Investigative group Pachedu said, "This is the […]

Following the suspension of Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD) operations in Masvingo District by the Masvingo District Administrator on the 11th day of March 2019.

Source: COTRAD High Court Suspension Challenge Hearing to be held tomorrow – The Zimbabwean

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The post COTRAD High Court Suspension Challenge Hearing to be held tomorrow  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday arrived in Manicaland to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Idai in the Eastern part of the country. The President revealed that many countries including Tanzania, Angola, South Africa, Botswana and the United Arab Emirates have promised to send consignments needed by the country to assist the victims of the […]

Source: State drops abuse of office charges against Potraz boss | Daily News

Prosecutors yesterday dropped criminal abuse of office charges against Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) director-general Gift Kallisto Machengete, bringing to a close a case that saw witnesses refusing to take the stand.

Witnesses failed to attend court in the $1,4 million criminal abuse of office charge against Machengete, with the State announcing the decision not to pursue the case further, instead settling for a lesser charge of breaching the provisions of the Procurement Act.

The State sent a note to advise the court to postpone the case to March 25.
The presiding regional magistrate Hosea Mujaya could not hide his dismay when the request to postpone the case was put up.

“We are very busy with a lot of cases and we want to work, why do we keep on deferring all matters?” he asked rhetorically.

Machengete has been in court since December over the criminal abuse rap, but the case has been postponed ad infitum.

He had applied to have his $1,4 million graft charges quashed arguing they are vague and failed to specify how he had participated in the offence.

Initially, Machengete was charged with criminal abuse of office and alternatively inducing a procuring entity to engage in procurement by a method that is prohibited by the Act.

The State then dropped the abuse office charge and sought to prosecute Machengete for breaching the provisions of the Procurement Act.

“It is submitted on behalf of the accused person that the charges, as read with the State outline are objectionable and liable to be quashed on several grounds.

“Section 178 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act provides that a charge can be quashed where it is calculated to embarrass an accused person in the conduct of his defence
“It is submitted that in the absence of anything in the charge particularizing exactly how the accused person allegedly induced or intended to induce Potraz to adopt the alleged prohibited procurement method, the charge is therefore vague.

“It is not legally tenable for an accused person to plead to a charge in which there is no averment as to how he allegedly committed the offence.”

Machengete was appointed Potraz director-general on December 1, 2016 and it was alleged that sometime in December last year, Potraz resolved to procure CVICs, which were going to be mounted countrywide.

The court heard that in February, Machengete wrote to the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) requesting a waiver of procurement regulations to enable the authority to purchase CVICs through quotations because container conversion was a specialised skill.

On February 12, Praz reportedly wrote back to Machengete to procure through the normal tender process which the defence argues was vague.

It was alleged that Potraz subsequently purchased 24 CVICs from B Smart Business Solutions at $70 682,95 each, totalling $1 494 104, through comparative schedule despite the fact that the value involved required competitive bidding in terms of the Procurement Act.

The post State drops abuse of office charges against Potraz boss appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.