The much-hyped City of Mutare Director of Engineering and Technical Services Corruption case a Monumental Flop

By Thomas Wadharwa

                 Eng. M Kerith 

After spending close to two years under prosecution on charges of Criminal Abuse of duty as a public officer, City of Mutare Director of Engineering and Technical Services (DETS) Eng. Maxwell Kerith and Patrick Magwegwe, Acting Workshop Manager are now free as State withdrew charges against them on the 9th of February 2023. The prosecutor struggled with dead case when it kicked off despite several celebrations from a handful of alleged city Cartels who wanted to see the D.E.T.S arrested.

The DETS who is turn 40 this year and his subordinate Patrick Magwegwe (36) were arrested on 14th of April 2021 and appeared in Court on 15th of April 2021 for criminal abuse of office. They were granted Zwl 2000 bail as ZACC promised to conclude the docket in 2 weeks’ time. It only took two years for a false trial to start. There were very few common people who continuously generated whatsapp message to soil the image of the duo. People were made to think the D.E.T.S upon conviction will lose his job or had a longer custodial sentence due to the hyping of the story.

Thereafter, the duo appeared in court every 2 weeks 4 more times until then acting regional magistrate Mr Richard Ramaboa removed the duo from remand as ZACC still could not conclude the docket. 

On 27 January 2023 the state summoned the duo to appear in court on the 1st of February 2023 but again the state papers were not ready and the court did not seat. This shows beyond reasonable doubt that the prosecution did not find prosecutable traces in the case at hand.

The duo was then summoned to court on 9 February 2023. However, after the testimony of the state's key witness, Mutare City's HR manager Mercy Nhongo and cross-examination by the accused persons Lawyer Tabitha Chikeya Mwayera, the state requested for a 10-minute adjournment of the proceedings. 

Upon return from the break, the state indicated that it could not build a prima facie case against the duo and offered to withdraw the charges leading to the duo's acquittal.

Since the arrest of the duo, there was much talk about the sincerity of ZACC in this case with many linking ZACC officials to possibly receiving bribes from disgruntled former City of Mutare employees, compromised journalists and a few employees of Council to disturb the City's upward service delivery trajectory.

"How do you arrest the City Engineer for being proactive and using his discretion to ensure continuity of supply of water in an environment where the Council does not have adequate vehicles?", argued one Dangamvura resident who preferred anonymity."

"I am glad the engineer has been acquitted and Dangamvura now has water after more than 20 years of suffering", added the delighted elderly resident.

 It is alleged the city struggled in many service delivery aspects during the absence of the city engineer from office in 2021.

One legal expert who prefers not to be mentioned also weighed and has this to say, “Besides what the courts of law saw as fit, strategic management and leadership tells us that, what the duo did, was done in the PUBLIC INTEREST. At a micro level, the duo made the public have pride in their town service delivery. They acted in the best interest of the public, as opposed to personal interest. Remember, they never used the vehicle for their personal chores.” He went on to say Public Administrators are ethically bound to protect the public interest, it even extends deeper than what happened. The actions that were taken served, instead of harming service delivery; public interest, for, not doing so was going to harm the public, dereliction of duty!

Given the above circumstances the several lawyers were of the view that the duo should have never been criminally charged and or tried at all. They helped protect council integrity, a strong fight to strengthen social equality.

Another high-flying lawyer who witnessed the state withdrawing the charges also indicated that, “It must be remembered that, when those in positions of authority like the duo, fail to act in the way they did, to act in the best interest of the public, citizens are hurt and rights to water are denied. The small acts, of failure to act, by one, can hurt many. This is why defending public interest is a worldwide phenomenon, the reason it must be practised to avert possible disasters.”

He adds on to say the decisions by the duo seems unpopular to others due to absolute ignorance. The duo had to figure out that it was more important to be great decision makers than great friends to their adversaries, they chose organisational best interest. The main worry that was indicated by the lawyer was litigations. H e wasn't sure if ZACC was safe from litigations. this will leave it to time.