News / National
Tsvangirai faction victorious in property fight
04 Jun 2014 at 07:09hrs | Views
THE MDC-T faction led by party leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday won the fight to retain party assets after Mutare magistrate dismissed the matter in which a rival faction fronted by "expelled" secretary-general Tendai Biti had accused them of grabbing some furniture from the Manicaland provincial office.
Following the fallout of the two camps recently, MDC-T's Manicaland provincial secretary Misheck Kagurabadza (70), Knowledge Nyamhoka (42) and Allan Mukodzani (34) grabbed some property at the party's offices after they were locked out by members of the Biti faction.
Kagurabadza, who is Mutare's former mayor, is aligned to the Tsvangirai faction.
Circumstances into the matter were that the three broke into the MDC-T's provincial offices at 26B Carrington Road, Darlington suburb in Mutare, on April 28 and grabbed a Dell computer monitor, one Dell computer central processing unit, one Tech-com computer processing unit, one Omega fan, one photocopier, two keyboards, two four-way power adaptors, one computer mouse and one power pack — all valued at $2 000.
After the alleged break-in, the party's provincial treasurer Brian James, who is believed to be aligned to the Biti faction, reported the matter to the police, leading to the trio's arrest.
In their defence, the three, through their lawyer Chris Ndlovu, said that they had seized the property after they were denied entry by Biti's followers. They also said they were acting on instructions from the acting secretary-general Tapiwa Mashakada.
In dismissing the matter, magistrate Aniah Ndiraya said the accused had acted procedurally as they were acting on written instruction from a senior party official. Ndiraya also noted that the State had failed to challenge Mashakada's authority.
The court ordered the police to return Kagurabadza's vehicle and the office furniture which were being held as exhibits.
Following the fallout of the two camps recently, MDC-T's Manicaland provincial secretary Misheck Kagurabadza (70), Knowledge Nyamhoka (42) and Allan Mukodzani (34) grabbed some property at the party's offices after they were locked out by members of the Biti faction.
Kagurabadza, who is Mutare's former mayor, is aligned to the Tsvangirai faction.
Circumstances into the matter were that the three broke into the MDC-T's provincial offices at 26B Carrington Road, Darlington suburb in Mutare, on April 28 and grabbed a Dell computer monitor, one Dell computer central processing unit, one Tech-com computer processing unit, one Omega fan, one photocopier, two keyboards, two four-way power adaptors, one computer mouse and one power pack — all valued at $2 000.
After the alleged break-in, the party's provincial treasurer Brian James, who is believed to be aligned to the Biti faction, reported the matter to the police, leading to the trio's arrest.
In their defence, the three, through their lawyer Chris Ndlovu, said that they had seized the property after they were denied entry by Biti's followers. They also said they were acting on instructions from the acting secretary-general Tapiwa Mashakada.
In dismissing the matter, magistrate Aniah Ndiraya said the accused had acted procedurally as they were acting on written instruction from a senior party official. Ndiraya also noted that the State had failed to challenge Mashakada's authority.
The court ordered the police to return Kagurabadza's vehicle and the office furniture which were being held as exhibits.
Source - NewsDay
