Land baron acquitted
June 18, 2015
Former Harare North Housing Co-operatives Union chairperson Justice Zvandasara, who was convicted and slapped with a four-year jail term over a $4 million fraud involving the illegal sale of residential stands in Hatcliffe, was yesterday acquitted by the High Court.
BY CHARLES LAITON
Zvandasara had been convicted by Harare regional magistrate Themba Kuwanda, for allegedly selling residential stands to over 1 000 home-seekers on a piece of land that belonged to Mutare South MP Nyasha Chikwinya (Zanu PF) and Jonathan Gapare.
But judges of appeal Justices Felistus Chatukuta and David Mangota overturned the magistrates’ court’s decision and quashed the proceedings after ruling that Zvandasara had been wrongfully convicted.
Zvandasara’s lawyer Tapson Dzvetero, who appeared alongside Tariro Machiridza, said the judges said essential elements of fraud had not been met in the matter warranting their client’s conviction.