The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Wednesday, March 25, 1992 — A Bulawayo provincial magistrate, Mr David Johnstone-Butcher, yesterday asked the ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development to appoint a new Hwange Local Board comprising people who will serve the best interests of the community.

The magistrate made the call at the end of the trial of Grassiano Paradzai Kapfunde, a senior officer in the Hwange Local Board, who was facing charges of contravening a section of the Prevention of Corruption Act and trying to defeat the course of justice.

Kapfunde (43), who had pleaded not guilty to the two charges, was convicted and fined $3 000 (or three months in prison).

The magistrate said that from the way the board seems to be running, it was clear the community of Hwange was not getting the best advantage of the board’s services.

He said he was concerned that the board was not being run in the way it should be. He noted that the chairman, Mr Jonathan Mathuthu, had taken a one-man decision to suspend Kapfunde, after failing to get support from the other board members.

The State case was that on November 15, 1982, Inter-Nation Construction Zimbabwe Limited, were contracted by Zesa to build Chibondo suburb. Before the announcement of the project, the contractor built two staff houses and a block of toilets.

The structures were to be handed over to the board. On completion of the project, the houses were handed over to Kapfunde, who told the other board members that they were his and that they would be rented out to the board employees.