The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
FORMER Mutare City Council Health Services Director, Antony Mutara (54), who was convicted of criminal abuse of duty as a public officer, will be sentenced today (Friday).
Initially, Mutara, who appeared before Mutare regional magistrate, Mrs Pethukile Msipa on Wednesday, was supposed to be sentenced yesterday (Thursday) after spending Wednesday night in remand prison, but the matter was deferred to today.
Charges against Mutara arose from an incident that occurred in January last year when he authored a memorandum to the Town Clerk, recommending that Ms Geonor Ndlovu be contracted as a typist in the Health Department from January 11 to March 31 last year.
His reason was that his personal assistant, a Ngwarati, was on sick leave.
On January 11, 2021, the Finance Director, Mr Chafesuka, who was the Acting Town Clerk at the time, had gone on sick leave and assigned Mutara to act as the Town Clerk for that week.
On January 12, 2021, and in his capacity as the Acting Town Clerk, Mutara offered Ms Ndlovu a contract of employment without going through the interview and selection process.
The contract was effective for three months.
Mutara then signed that contract on behalf of the late Town Clerk, Mr Joshua Maligwa, who had already died on January 5.
Ms Ndlovu also signed the contract on January 12, 2021.
In this regard, the court heard that Mutara acted contrary or inconsistent with his duties as a public officer by showing favour to Ms Ndlovu whom he gave her a contract of employment without following recruitment procedures at the expense of the council’s good administration.
The court heard that Mutara recommended, approved and signed Ms Ndlovu’s contract on behalf of the late Mr Maligwa.
In his mitigation, Mr Hugo Tanaya of Tanaya Law Champers, who represented Mutara, argued that his client is just a sacrificial lamb.
“It is common cause that before the offence was committed, City of Mutare was not following its own written procedures in respect to contract workers’ recruitment,” he said.
Mr Tanaya also argued that the court should be lenient in sentencing Mutara, given that the conviction itself had already badly “injured his personal and professional reputation as a medical doctor, hence the need for the court to resist the temptation to metaphorically beat a man who is down”.
He also argued that the prejudice suffered due to Mutara’s offence is negligible as it amounts to $15 298. 25 and his client is ready to pay restitution.
He said the court should be guided by Section 53 of the Constitution which discourages inhumane and degrading sentencing.
However, Mutare district prosecutor, Mr Tirivanhu Mutyasira, who was representing the State, argued that giving Mutara a custodial sentence will be in line with Government’s position on zero tolerance to corruption, which he termed as a cancer eroding the moral and economic fabric of the country.
He said the offence is a serious one and even though there is provision for a fine, imposing a fine on Mutara will be a mockery to justice.
