The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Reporter
FORMER Bulawayo Deputy Mayor, Tinashe Kambarami has been acquitted of theft charges after the State did not oppose his appeal against an earlier conviction.
The former Deputy Mayor was stripped of his position after High Court Judge, Justice Thompson Mabhikwa ruled that the election of Kambarami was in violation of section 119 (2) (e) of the Electoral Act following his conviction of theft.
However, in a judgment issued by Justice Martin Makonese sitting with Justice Mabhikwa last Monday, the theft conviction was thrown out with the judge concurring with Kambarami’s lawyer, Mr Dixon Moyo of Samp Mlaudzi and Partners, that the lower court erred in taking a casual approach to the guilty plea proffered by the appellant.
“The court clearly erred in taking a cursory approach to the plea recording procedure, resulting in the conviction of the accused. It must be noted that even during mitigation, the appellant raised something which should have alerted the magistrate to the fact that plea was not genuine.
“Having submitted contradictory statements, the trial magistrate was supposed to have canvassed more information from the accused. The plea was therefore not genuine and accordingly, the conviction and sentence are set aside,” reads part of the judgment.
The judges further noted that the presiding magistrate (Bulawayo provincial magistrate, Ms Sharon Rosemani) also did not comply with provisions of Section 163A of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act by failing to explain the rights of the accused person to legal representation.
Kambarami is also awaiting the hearing of his Supreme Court appeal on the High Court ruling barring him from standing as a councillor and deputy mayor. In March Supreme Court judge, Justice Paddington Garwe, sitting with Justices Lavender Makoni and Chinembiri Bhunu on circuit in Bulawayo, postponed the matter indefinitely after Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, who was instructed by Kambarami’s lawyers to argue the matter, failed to attend due to self-isolation.
