Mupfumira arrest warrant cancelled, trial pushed to 5 May

A HARARE magistrate yesterday cancelled a warrant of arrest issued against former Public Service minister Priscah Mupfumira.

This comes after it emerged that the practice directive issued by the Judicial Service Commission on the operations of courts had confused a lot of officers as it did not give remand dates for accused persons.

Magistrate Trynos Utawashe then cancelled Mupfumira and her co-accused Barnabas Matongera’s warrants of arrest before remanding the matter to May 5 for trial.

Mupfumira and Matongera, who is National Social Security Authority (Nssa) former contributions and collections officer, were represented by Admire Rubaya.

The pair faces charges of paying US$3,5 million to a local land development company towards the construction of low-cost housing units in Gweru without the Nssa board approval and without following tender processes.

The money was allegedly paid to Drawcard Enterprises from the US$6,5 million that Nssa had committed towards construction of 1 000 low-cost houses in the Midlands capital. – NewsDay 🔺