Harare magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa has granted bail to Taguma Mahonde, the Director General of the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats), who was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) last Tuesday on fraud charges.
Mahonde, aged 53 and residing on Gono Street in Malborough, is accused of falsely claiming a school fees allowance of US$4,000 for a child who, it is alleged, does not exist.
The magistrate’s decision to grant bail came despite the state’s argument that Mahonde should be denied bail due to the gravity of the charges he faces. Magistrate Gofa, however, ruled that the seriousness of the offense was not sufficient grounds to deny bail.
She stated, “The seriousness of the offense is not a valid reason to bar this court from granting the accused bail. The State witness even agreed that there is no offense since even the board passed the resolution proposed by the accused. The accused has a right to be seen as innocent until proven guilty. This court therefore finds that he is a suitable candidate for bail.”
As a condition of his bail, Mahonde has been ordered to pay a $200 bail fee to the clerk of the court, surrender his travel documents, refrain from interfering with witnesses, and reside at his registered address.
In addition to the fraud charge, Mahonde is also facing allegations of contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act and an alternative charge of obstruction of justice.
The state asserts that Mahonde received $4,000 from ZimStats by falsely claiming a school fees allowance for a child who does not exist.
Furthermore, it is alleged that when ZACC initiated an investigation into his alleged misconduct in March this year, he attempted to conceal the offense by reimbursing ZW$756,047.33. However, this amount was only equivalent to US$826 based on the interbank rate of the day.
