Tendai Ziso

THE High Court has dismissed an appeal by the former Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Prisca Mupfumira where she challenged a lower court’s decision to dismiss her application for discharge in a case where she is facing criminal abuse of office charges.

Mupfumira is being accused of unlawfully directing National Social Security Authority (NSSA) management to enter into a housing project with a company called Drawcard Enterprises (Private) Limited (Drawcard) without following due process.

She is accused of committing the offense when she was the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

Her application for discharge was recently dismissed by Harare magistrate Ngoni Nduna, leading to her appeal.
High Court justices Benjamin Chikowero and Rodgers Manyangadze, however, dismissed her application saying there was no reason to interfere with the lower court’s ruling.

“We reiterate that we have studied the record of the proceedings unfolding before the first respondent. We do not see anything or any basis to descend in that arena… The case for the prosecution was clear. It was simple,” the judges ruled.

“The record of proceedings discloses the applicant’s pivotal involvement in the favourable positioning of Drawcard right from the Metbank Building Meeting, the Anesu Building Meeting and the applicant’s unrelenting pressure upon Chihota and Mukondomi to hurriedly conclude the contract.

“All in all, the nine grounds for review are, at the end of the day, a grouping of grounds of appeal and argument to motivate such grounds. They miss the point.”

The development will likely put a dent on her political image which she is trying to resurrect as noted recently when she won the ticket to represent the ruling party as Mayor for Makonde District.