Former Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Gift Banda (49) has been arrested for processing a lease agreement for a piece of land under the name of an unregistered company purportedly owned by his daughter.
During his tenure of office, Banda allegedly influenced the process and corruptly acquired the stand measuring 3,82 hectares on behalf of Entertainment Headquarters purportedly owned by his daughter, Samantha and one Saimon Mambazo. Banda who is now MDC Alliance MP for Njube-Lobengula, yesterday appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Adelaide Mbeure facing a charge of Criminal Abuse of Duty as a Public Officer or alternatively Fraud as defined in section 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. He was remanded out of custody to February 1, 2019, on $100 bail. Banda was also ordered to reside at his given address and not interfere with State witnesses until the matter is finalised.
Between January 2014 and December 2015, Banda connived with unnamed accomplices who were members of a sub-committee of the Bulawayo City Council. They corruptly processed a lease agreement on behalf of Entertainment Headquarters for the construction of a social club situated between 2nd and 4th Avenue along Samuel Parirenyatwa Street. Entertainment Headquarters, allegedly owned by Banda’s daughter and Mambazo, was not registered at the time the lease agreement was signed. The court heard that Banda corruptly used his position as Deputy Mayor to acquire the lease without going through the normal tender process.
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