Chipinge Town Secretary Arrested

By Livingstone Mtetwa

CHIPINGE- Chipinge Town Secretary Susan Dube (49) who was arrested few days ago for criminal abuse of office and on bail, has been dragged back to court on fresh charges of stealing council property.

Dube who was put on bail for abuse of office was arrested and taken to Chipinge Magistrate court where she pleaded not guilty of the charge laid against her.
It is alleged that the Town Secretary committed the crime of theft of 74×32mm as well as 26×25mm PVC pipes which are confiscated at Chipinge police as evidence,
The pipes were recovered at her Kenilworth Farm in Mwandifura Prison Farm road some 8km from Chipinge Town.

It is stated that on December 23 2020 the accused applied through a letter for a domestic water connection at her plot, the application was approved on January 25 2020 by council with conditions to buy her own water connection material and pay for labour herself.

The accused Town Secretary used her office and influence in the organisation to acquire council property and she unlawfully took 74×32mm and 26×25 PVC pipes valued at US$639.00 from Chipinge Town Council central stores office which were drain laid from Chipinge Farm Prison road to the accused farm stretching for a distance of 850 metres.

The offense came to light after a tip off by councilors and council staff leading to her arrest.

Dube is on remand out of custody with bail conditions not to visit Town Council offices, not interfering with state witnesses as well as reporting to Chipinge police twice a week.

Timothy Katsande stood as the state prosecutor with Poterai Gwezhira presiding over the matter while Langton Mhungu of Mhungu and associates is representing her.

Dube has however tried to submit her leave letter at council offices, a condition that has been rejected by Chipinge councilors after directive by the Central Government that councillors and council staff with pending criminal cases will be suspended until their matters are cleared off by the courts.