Court Correspondent
Three City of Harare employees have appeared in court over allegations that they used fake payment confirmations to clear ratepayer debts, allegedly prejudicing the municipality of ZiG5.9 million.
Acting chief clerical officer Enias Muringami and revenue department cashiers Melody Sevenzai and Lameck Chakwana appeared before Harare regional magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa facing fraud charges. They were each granted US$300 bail.
The State alleges that between March 2025 and February 2026, the trio manipulated the council's online payment system to create fictitious deposits and settle outstanding accounts without money being paid to the municipality.
Prosecutors allege that Muringami, who had access to upload bank statements onto the payment system, created fake bulk deposits on the RTGS platform under several company names.
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The court heard that the trio allegedly targeted ratepayers with large outstanding balances, offering to clear their debts at discounted rates if they paid money directly to them in foreign currency.
According to the State, after Muringami made the fictitious deposits appear on the system, Sevenzai and Chakwana allegedly submitted fake proof-of-payment documents to senior clerical officers for processing.
The officers allegedly believed the payments had been received and subsequently allocated the amounts to ratepayer accounts and issued receipts.
Prosecutors allege that the accused kept the money paid by beneficiaries for personal use.
The scheme allegedly resulted in the City of Harare being prejudiced of ZiG5,912,214.50, equivalent to approximately US$227,392.80.
The court heard that nothing had been recovered by the time the accused appeared in court.
The matter was remanded for further proceedings.
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