HARARE – Former public service minister Prisca Mupfumira has been acquitted following a marathon trial on accusations of pressurising NSSA to enter into an agreement with land development company Drawcard Enterprises which prosecutors alleged she handpicked without going to tender.
Represented by Admire Rubaya of Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, Mupfumira denied the allegations saying she was a victim of political victimisation by the then Robert Mugabe led administration over her loyalty to President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was Vice-President at the time.
Mupfumira also denied bringing Drawcard into the picture stating that it was the responsibility of the NSSA board to make such decisions.
She said she was never part of the board, never sat on it and that the decision to engage the firm was made by other individuals without her involvement.
Deputy chief magistrate – now a judge – Ngoni Nduna reasoned that the State went ahead with her prosecution despite clear evidence that she was not part of the decision-making process to engage the firm.
He also said the people who might have erred in the matter were surprisingly lined up as witnesses against her.
The court said it is actually the legal service department at NSSA that failed to properly advise the board adding that it is preposterous to think that Mupfumira would force the state run institution to violate tender processes when she never sat on its board meetings.
“Accused’s version that she never participated in the identification of Drawcard sounds highly probable. Her cry that she may have been a mere victim is not far-fetched.
“The court comes to this conclusion because there is all the evidence, in black and white, that NSSA board proceeded on its own resolution in the execution of the Mzenya Project, but the state persisted with her prosecution,” Nduna said.
Mupfumira maintained her innocence during the trial, narrating how she was being victimised for an offence she never committed.
“Clearly, where one in these circumstances would want the court to believe that accused is responsible from the deviation from PRAZ provisions and that she compelled NSSA to engage Drawcard in the absence of minutes of meetings where accused is recorded as exerting herself towards engagements of Drawcard would be preposterous to say the least.
“It is clear PRAZ regulations were ousted by the resolution of 30 June 2017 from application on Offtake Housing Projects and the identification and engagement of a developer. The only conclusion to be arrived at is that NSSA did not go to tender because they resolved not to do so.
“Accused was not part of the deliberations where that resolution was arrived at. If ever PRAZ applied to the projects, it is the Legal Advisors in NSSA who should be held liable for not properly advising the board on legal issues.
“They let the board subvert a statutory provision. And persons who could have erred, in the face of clear evidence, they were lined as witnesses against the accused,” Nduna added.
The former minister was jointly charged with a director at NSSA Barnabas Matongera who was discharged at the close of the State’s case.
The court said it reached a position to put her to defence to explain on the handpicking of Drawcard issue which witnesses alleged she was part of.
The court said there is no evidence that she knew about the company before its engagement and that she received any consideration from the company after it clinched the deal.
“For example, the State can prove prior dealing or connection between the accused and the beneficiary of the impugned favours or decision by the public officer.
“In this case, there was none put before the court that accused may have known or be connected to Drawcard so as to induce her to extend an undue favour of the deal in question.
“There is no evidence that accused, soon after or before ever received a consideration from Drawcard,” the court said.
