Two top officials at the Mines and Mining Development ministry in Mashonaland East province were yesterday arraigned before the courts for criminal abuse of office charges after they allocated mining claims without following procedure.
Godfrey Dadirai (40), a geologist, and Racheal Nkomo (29), a survey technician, were both remanded out of custody on $20 000 bail each by Marondera magistrate Rumbidzai Munemo.
They will return to court on March 11 for trial.
The state alleges that in February 2019, Zimbabwe International Quarries Company submitted an application to the Mines ministry to register mining claims in ward 8, Mutawatawa, under prospecting licences 031157-60 to extract black granite.
The application was referred to the two accused persons for verification.
On April 16, Nkomo compiled a report which she addressed to the provincial mining director (PMD) stating that she had no objections to the registration of the mining claims.
On June 7 the same year, Dadirai also compiled his report, which he forwarded to the PMD highlighting that he had done the verification exercise and recommended that the applicant be awarded a certificate of registration.
Investigations by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) unearthed that the land in question was occupied by villagers and was not open to pegging and prospecting.
It was also established that there was no written consent obtained from Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe Zvataida Rural District Council.
Two other Mines ministry officers Tizah Mandava (31) and Zvinodaishe Mubariri (30) were also arrested for criminal abuse of office for illegally allocating black granite claims in UMP.
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