Zanu-PF official's sentence quashed

EVANS Kamombo, a top Zanu-PF official, who was disqualified from standing as the party's parliamentary candidate for Nyanga North constituency and sentenced to nine years in jail for theft, has had his conviction quashed  by the High Court.

Kamombo was being acccused of stealing fertiliser worth US$40 075 belonging to Zimbabwe's ambassador to Tanzania Anselem Sanyatwe.

A High Court judge yesterday dismissed the matter after the chief witness, Nyanga North MP Chido Sanyatwe failed to attend court to testify against him. It also emerged that Kamombo was vying for a parliamentary seat held by the ambassador's wife, a key witness in the matter.

Kamombo was in March slapped with a nine-year jail term by Mutare magistrate Richard Ramaboea, with two years of his sentence set aside on condition that he pays restitution.

The judge ruled that the complainant's wife, Chido, should have testified.

"We appealed against conviction and sentence, the conviction was set aside and the sentence was quashed, he is now free after spending some weeks in prison," Kamombo's lawyer said.