Machaya locked up at Hwahwa Prison

Comment & Analysis
Former Midlands provincial affairs minister Jason Machaya who is also Senator for Gokwe, was yesterday taken to Hwahwa Prison facing charges of abuse of office after having spent the entire Christmas and New Year holidays at Gokwe prison over similar charges.

Former Midlands provincial affairs minister Jason Machaya who is also Senator for Gokwe, was yesterday taken to Hwahwa Prison facing charges of abuse of office after having spent the entire Christmas and New Year holidays at Gokwe prison over similar charges.

by Stephen Chadenga

Gweru magistrate Mildred Matuvi remanded Machaya in custody over another charge of abuse of office allegedly commited in Gweru. He is expected back in court tomorrow.

In remanding the former minister in custody, the magistrate said she needed more time to make a ruling on his application to be placed off remand. Machaya’s lawyer Ambrose Dururu made an application that the court should turn down the state’s request to place him on remand arguing accused had been unlawfully transferred from Gokwe to Whawha Prison without a warrant from the magistrate.

Dururu submitted that when Machaya was released on $1 000 bail granted by the High Court on January 4,  armed police details immediately arrested him outside the prison gate only to be detained at Mtapa police station for two nights until he was brought to court yesterday.

The lawyer argued that if the court was to accept the request for remand it “would simply be to release him on the bail conditions” accused was granted by the High Court. He argued police could have summoned Machaya to the police station since they knew he had been granted bail by the High Court instead of arresting and detaining him for two days.

The defence counsel alleged that the manner police acted showed that Machaya’s was not a criminal case but a politically motivated issue.

“These charges are politically-motivated and will not stand two minutes of trial,” said Dururu.

But prosecutor Lloyd Mavhisa submitted that Machaya should be remanded in custody pending further investigations since the charges he was facing in Gokwe were different from the ones in Gweru.

Accusations against Machaya are that he allocated 1 799 residential stands to private land developers without the authority of the then Local Government minister.

It is further alleged that he received 1 791 commonage stands from land developers and that he disposed 1 185 of the said commonage stands without the approval of the Local Government ministry.

He is also accused of illegally allocating 192 commonage stands to the Apostolic Christian Church.