Zupco chief jailed for corruption while Chombo looks set to walk

By Lance Guma
22 August 2006

The late Zanu PF legal expert Edison Zvobgo once remarked that, ‘a prison is a place where big criminals keep small ones.’ That analogy rings true in the latest corruption trial to rock Zimbabwe. The head of the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) Charles Nherera was on Monday convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour, while only one year was suspended. Despite findings by the trial magistrate Lilian Kudya that local government minister Ignatius Chombo had a case to answer, nothing significant has happened to suggest he will also be brought to book. Only Bright Matonga, the deputy information minister who by all accounts is a political lightweight, has been arrested.

Although Mugabe has announced a crackdown on corruption, critics believe all those being arrested are victim to a vicious power struggle as various power brokers position themselves to succeed the 82-year old Zanu PF leader. Nherera was found guilty of soliciting for a US$85,000 bribe in return for awarding South African company Gift Investments a contract to supply buses to ZUPCO. Nherera has meanwhile appealed the conviction and also applied for bail. The trial magistrate made it clear if the police do their work properly minister Chombo should face the courts. She pointed to his evidence in the trial as contradictory and hiding many facts and ‘that there were a lot of unspoken features about the case which if they had been clearly laid out, it would have been easy to conclude whether they (Matonga and Chombo) were State or defence witnesses.’

Newsreel tracked down Nherera’s lawyer Joseph Mandizha and he clearly stated their concern at the political undertones dominating the case. ‘There are inevitable political undertones in the case but for me and certainly for Professor Nherera to say he is being persecuted is quite another matter, we are not saying so, but equally it’s naïve for anyone to disregard the political dynamics and undercurrents in the case.’ Mandizha says they are currently studying the judgment and will have up to Thursday to file an appeal. He also feels the complainant in the case, businessman Jahesh Shah, should not have been believed in the light of his evidence weighed up against that put forward by the defence.