Higher and Tertiary Education deputy minister Godfrey Gandawa and Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) principal director (finance) , Nicholas Mapute who are facing charges of fraud, were yesterday granted $500 bail by a Harare magistrate.
BY TAWANDA TADERERA
As part of their bail conditions, the two were ordered to report three times a week at Harare Central police station, surrender their travel documents and not to interfere with State witnesses.
Gandawa was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on Thursday and later released into the custody of his lawyers, but the following day he was remanded in custody when he appeared before Harare magistrate Vakai Chikwekwe.
Court records which had been opened by the magistrate court in relation to Higher Education minister, Jonathan Moyo, who is also facing charges of defrauding Zimdef of over $400 000, were cancelled and considered not taken.
The State had applied for an arrest warrant for Moyo after he failed to attend court on Friday following his successful application at the Constitutional Court challenging his arrest by Zacc. The magistrate ruled that the application for Moyo’s arrest warrant had been improperly done as the Higher Education minister had not been ordered to attend court.
Gandawa is being represented by Bernard Chidziva, while Pisirai Kwenda is representing Mapute.
The Higher Education deputy minister is also accused of attaching fake delivery notes to Zimdef invoices purporting to have delivered 120 computers and trying to destroy evidence.
