Fungai Lupande Mashonaland Central Bureau
Bindura Mayor Councillor Carlos Tokyo was slapped in public by his deputy, Nobert Dokotera, on Monday afternoon for allegedly telling a team investigating land management by Bindura Municipality that Clr Dokotera had grabbed some stands, a court heard yesterday.
Cllr Tokyo (40), of Ward 5, and Dokotera (39), of Ward 10, are both MDC-Alliance councillors.
Dokotera appeared yesterday before Bindura magistrate Ms Samantha Dhlamini facing assault charges and was remanded to October 27 on $800 bail.
On Monday, Clr Tokyo arrived at Chipadze shopping centre at around 1pm and started greeting fellow party members. Dokotera jumped out of a vehicle parked nearby and allegedly slapped Cllr Tokyo on the face, head and shoulders, accusing the Mayor of telling the investigating team that he grabbed some residential stands.
The court heard that Dokotera was restrained by Jacob Gweture and Jonah Kapasi.
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That investigating team, led by Mr Morgan Hungwe, started their work on October 11 and is expected to conclude today. They are looking into land management in Bindura by council managers and councillors from 2016 to this year.
This is not the first time for Bindura Municipal officials to engage in a fistfight.
In January, 2018 former Bindura mayor Mr Innocent Zvigumbu and the council’s finance director Mr Lovemore Warurama fought after failing to agree on the contents of a 2016 special audit report conducted by the then Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
Zvigumbu was accused of bringing to the table a fictitious report which had nothing to do with the ministry’s audit.
After their fight, the two made separate reports to police, accusing each other of assault.
Chamber secretary Naison Machingauta and Warurama appeared in court on allegations of assaulting Zvigumbu but they were acquitted after a full trial.
– HERALD
