Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje on Tuesday issued a warrant of arrest against Harare City Council director of works Engineer Isaiah Zvenyika Chawatama after he failed to appear before the court.
Chawatama together with suspended Harare City Town Clerk, Hosiah Chisango together with businessman Michael John Van Blerk, Kenneth Raydon Sharpe, Mandla Marlone Ndebele, Samuel Nyabezi and Lasten Taonezvi were summoned before the court facing charges of malicious damage to property.
Also summoned before the courts was Harare City Council represented by Chisango and Pokugara Properties Pvt Ltd represented by Van Blerk.
They were all remanded to April 26 2021 for trial.
The criminal charges arose from an incident that occurred between July and October 2018 in which a show house constructed by land developer Georgios Katsimberis was destroyed.
The quartet of Chisango, Chawatama, Nyabezi and Taonezvi face criminal abuse of duty charges as public officers as defined in Section 174 of the criminal law after they allegedly acted inconsistent with their duties by showing disfavor to complainant Georgios Katsimberis by claiming that he had built a show house on stand 9 of 21 on consolidated stand number 19559 of 19828 at Borrowdale in Harare without approved plan while favoring Pokugara Properties (PVT) Ltd in a dispute between complainant Georgios Katsimberis and Pokugara.
The City of Harare was represented by lawyer Alec Muchadehama whilst Zvenyika Chidyausiku represented Van Blerk, Sharpe and Pokugara Properties.
