Former Harare mayor Gomba back in court

INVESTIGATIONS are now complete into charges against former Harare Mayor Herbert Gomba of violating the Electoral Act in 2018 by registering himself and 22 others at the same Glen Norah address, although they did not live there and the State is now preparing for trial.

Prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti told the routine remand hearing yesterday that the docket was now undergoing perusal and the State would soon furnish Gomba with a trial date.

The trial date will be given at the next hearing on November 21.

Gomba was represented by Mr Garikayi Mhishi when he appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court yesterday.

He allegedly registered himself and 22 others as voters using the same residential address in Harare’s Glen Norah suburb.

It is alleged that none of them lived at the given address when Gomba contested in Ward 17, the Glen Norah ward of Harare City Council, during the July 2018 harmonised elections under the MDC-A ticket.

Through Mr Mhishi, Gomba notified the State that he would mount an application for refusal of further remand in the event that the State failed to give a trial date.

The State alleges that in 2017, Gomba went to Ruvheneko Primary School in Glen Norah where he submitted an affidavit with a Residence Voter Registration (Form VR9) in terms of the Electoral (Voter Registration) Regulations, 2017 to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officials to register himself as a voter in Harare’s Ward 17 which he wished to contest in the elections the following year.

It is alleged Gomba also gave false information in the affidavit that he was staying at 5756 Muroro Crescent Glen Norah B, when he was not residing there.

According to the State, the house in question is a four-roomed building with two bedrooms, combined lounge and dining room and a kitchen.