Kamambo Admits To Paying Councillors, Not Bribing Them

SUSPENDED ZIFA president Felton Kamambo, who is facing multiple bribery charges, has filed an application for discharge after the close of the State case.

The presiding magistrate, Bianca Makwande, is expected to make a ruling today.

The State, led by Michael Reza, closed its case on Kamambo’s last appearance, after leading evidence from 13 witnesses.

Kamambo, in his application for discharge, told the court it was his view the prosecution failed to prove its case on the essential elements of bribery.

He claims the State failed to lead evidence, on which a court acting reasonably, could convict and the evidence led was so manifestly unreliable .

“The charge is clear that the allegation is that the Zimbabwe Football Association Electoral Committee is the principal and the voters are the agents, the investigating officer, who testified as the last State witness, was clear that the principal was the Zimbabwe Football Association members, or affiliates, and the agents were the representatives of these members.

“As such, the State failed to prove its own charge.

“The State witnesses contradict the charge sheet.

“The State called 12 voters, who participated in the 2018 election.

“At the close of the State case, the State indicated that it was abandoning all its other counts and was left with only 12 counts against the accused.

“It is submitted that all the 12 State witnesses denied ever receiving a bribe from the accused.”

Kamambo said the witnesses also denied any inducement to vote for him.

“All the State witnesses denied ever being induced in any way by the accused,” he said.

“All the State witnesses denied ever receiving a consideration from the accused for them to vote in a particular way in the election.

“All the State witnesses denied ever receiving a gift from the accused.

“As such, there is no evidence to prove the essential element of inducement with consideration of cash from the accused.”

Kamambo further argued he didn’t deny paying the witnesses and the latter didn’t deny receiving the money.

But, he said, the main issue was what the payments were for and all the witnesses testified and explained what the money was for.

“They said it was reimbursement of expenses incurred in transport and food for purposes of attending the campaign rallies he held.

“It is also crucial to note that the accused had no way of knowing how the people had voted. It was a secret vote.’

Those who received the payments were only representing their constituents, Kamambo claimed.

“The decision on who to vote for was that of the members,” he said.

“The State failed to prove that any of the members, or the principals, made a report complaining that their agent did not honour the instructions that they had given him.

“The complainant in the matter is not any of the principals. Complainant is a losing candidate, Philip Chiyangwa.”

Kamambo also argued that the State didn’t lead any evidence where the conduct of giving money, as reimbursement of expenses incurred during the campaign period, is regarded as a criminal act.

“The ZIFA statutes do not outlaw such payments. The FIFA statutes referred to by the State do not criminalise such conduct.

“As such, there are no known statutes that regulate the conduct of candidates during the campaign period.

“It is noteworthy that most of the State witnesses confirmed that there was nothing unusual with what was done by Kamambo.

“They even went further and alleged that the same conduct was done by all other contestants in the election.”

In response, Michael Reza for the State opposed the application arguing that the State surpassed the threshold to make out a prima facie case.

He said there was evidence on record that shows both Kamambo and his campaign manager, Robert Matoka, paid various amounts using Ecocash, to ZIFA agents, who were going to vote for the ZIFA president.

Reza went on to analyse the evidence of Matoka, who confirmed receiving money from Kamambo for the exclusive purpose of transferring it into the accounts of the persons.

“Even though he turned round and feebly attempted to disown his affidavit the next State witness testified that was what witness Matoka exactly disclosed to him.

“Had it not been for this witness, this case would not have seen the light of day.

“Had he gone to Mr. Philip Chiyangwa and said Kamambo had been innocently reimbursing expenses to voters, there would have been no need for Chiyangwa to make a police report.

“Equally true is the fact that if the police had been advised of the innocence of the payments, they would not have received the report or proceeded to arrest the accused for further investigations, compile a docket and then bring Kamambo to court,” read part of the application.

Reza concluded by saying he relied on the FIFA code of ethics. H-Metro