Bulawayo Town Clerk Christopher Dube was Thursday, grilled by the defence counsel in a case in which he is alleging that Deputy Mayor Tinashe Kambarami and Ward 4 Councillor Silas Chigora assaulted him during a confrontation at his offices last month.
In his testimony, Dube alleged Cllr Kambarami and Cllr Chigora stormed into his office ‘movie-style’ and assaulted him with open hands, fists and kicked him.
Dube said senior security officer Tobias Dube and Makhosi Tshalebwa came to his rescue before Kambarami and Chigora called in reinforcement from fellow councillors namely Felix Mhaka, Tawanda Ruzive and Arnold Batirai.
“Your Worship when the two assaulted me it was just the three of us in the office, there was no one else around. Dube and Tshalebwa came to my rescue after about a minute or two. From the spontaneous way the events folded out, I felt like this was a planned thing with the intention of embarrassing me in front of my subordinates,” said Dube.
In cross-examination, the councillor`s lawyer Maqhawe Mpofu of Mlaudzi and Partners challenged the authenticity of Dube’s testimony citing it was different from an account given by Dube and Tshalebwa in their statements.
Mpofu also challenged the discrepancies between the statement Dube gave to the police and the account he gave in court.
“Your Worship these are just fabricated allegations. Both statements which were recorded by the police as a form of assisting the State with investigations to the matter do not mention anywhere that there was physical contact between my clients and the complainant,” said Mpofu.
“In both statements, the potential witnesses to this case show that my clients (Cllrs Kambarami and Chigora) sought senior security officer Dube, Tshalebwa and Chamber Secretary Zhou before proceeding to the complainant’s office. They were never alone with him in the office. This thus nullifies the possibility of the three being alone resulting in the alleged assault.”
He added: “Your Worship if there is anything clearly stated in this case, it is the verbal assault by the complainant my clients were subjected to.”
“Tshalebwa’s statement says when they got to the complainant’s office, they found him seated behind his desk. It further narrates how the whole scuffle unfolded before them up to when the complainant left his office and it was locked by Cllr Kambarami,” said Mpofu.
The accused councillors’ lawyer, lodged an application for discharge at the close of the State case.
Mpofu said from the account given by Dube before the court, there is no evidence incriminating his clients of the assault charges laid against them.
State allegations as presented by Leonard Chile, are that On July 11 2019, the two councillors assaulted Town Clerk Christopher Dube with open hands, fists and kicked him several times all over the body in his office.
Chile said the pair were in the company of Felix Mhaka, Tawanda Ruzive, Arnold Batirai.
Bulawayo Provincial magistrate Tinashe Tashaya ordered Mpofu to make his submissions for the application of discharge at the close of the state case by August 9.
Magistrate Tashaya remanded the matter to August 16 for ruling of the application.
