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Hwange Regional Magistrate Collet Ncube has denied Victoria Falls Mayor Somvelo Dhlamini bail.
Dhlamini is facing allegations of fraud alternatively concealing from a principal a person interest in a transaction as defined in section 173 of the Criminal Law Codification Act.
Ncube remanded Dhlamini in custody to October 24.
The accused was arrested on Thursday last week, by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
Vic Falls Mayor Somvelo Dhlamini
This was after he allegedly misrepresented to the council and applied for a stand using the name of a resident knowing he was not eligible since he had benefitted before.
ZACC, which visited Victoria Falls City to investigate allegations of corruption against Town Clerk Ronnie Dube, unearthed the alleged scandal involving a stand valued at over US$90 000.
Through his lawyer Givemore Mvhiringi Dhlamini applied for bail which was turned down by Ncube.
The state reports that, “In that on the 15th of August 2022 and at Victoria Falls City Council offices the accused Somveli Dhlamini who is the mayor of the city council and in his capacity as such unlawfully and intentionally made a misrepresentation and purported to be Valentine Munyaradzi Maseko who he had earlier on in 2003 purchased a stand 1139 from by making an application using the name Valentine Munyaradzi Maseko to Victoria Falls City Council under the Wood Road Housing Scheme upon which the council offered him stand number 1771 Wood Road which needed a deposit of US$25 000.”
The court also heard that, Dhlamini paid US$10 000 and the balance was supposed to be paid within five days which he failed to do.
He then paid $7 500 000.
Charges emanate from the fact that Dhlamini misrepresented himself as Maseko and defrauded the city despite a council resolution of ordinary full council meeting number 4 of 2020 which stipulated that applicants must not have benefitted before through allocation, purchase or lost stands through repossession within Victoria Falls City.
Dhlamini caused the council US$15 000 actual prejudice and a potential prejudice of US$66 462.75 which got him arrested by the ZACC crack unit
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