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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Three Beitbridge Town Council heads of department have appeared in court after they allegedly unlawfully awarded themselves $18,000 in annual performance bonuses.Town treasurer Rejoice Somakiwa, 47, town engineer Maxwell Karenyi, 31, and acting town secretary Mbongeleni Muleya, 52, all pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse of public office when they appeared before Beitbridge resident magistrate Gloria Takundwa.

Allegations are that on March 7 the accused, acting in connivance, unlawfully awarded themselves performance bonuses of $6,000 each without a council resolution or approval. On that same date initial cash payments of $1,000 were made to them.

The local authority was prejudiced of $3,000 and only $1,000 was recovered.

The State led by Jabulani Mberesi said an internal audit was carried out some time in March leading to the discovery of the offence.
He said the council chairperson who is representing the local authority in the matter then approached Muleya about the crime resulting in him returning the $1,000 which he had unlawfully awarded himself.

A report was then made to the police leading to the arrest of the accused persons.

The trio argued that the local authority owed them $25,000 each in outstanding payments for the past three years as per their contractual agreements with council.

The magistrate remanded them out of custody to May 14 for trial.

The State had applied for the trio to be barred from reporting for work but that was dismissed by the magistrate for lack of merit.