GWERU – The former Midlands provincial affairs minister Jason Machaya was jailed for four years on Tuesday after he was convicted of selling state land.
The 68-year-old, who is suffering poor health and recently underwent an operation, had 18 months of the sentence conditionally set aside leaving him with an effective two years and six months to serve.
Gweru magistrate Charity Maphosa on Monday convicted Machaya and the former Midlands provincial physical planner Chisayinyerwa Chibururu of criminal abuse of office. Sentence was postponed to Tuesday.
The trial heard that Machaya allocated 17,799 residential and commercial stands on state land in Gokwe to land developers, which prosecutors argued was inconsistent with his duties.
The magistrate accepted prosecution arguments that Machaya had no legal responsibility to allocate the land to developers and entities, but instead it was the duty of the local government minister.
Machaya received back 1,791 stands from the land developers and companies after which he allegedly sold 1,185 stands to different individuals.
His lawyer Alec Muchadehama said they would be seeking Machaya’s freedom on bail pending an appeal against both conviction and sentence.
Machaya becomes the second minister who served under the late President Robert Mugabe’s administration to be jailed after former Energy Minister Samuel Undenge.
Undenge is serving two-and-half years in prison after he was convicted of abuse of office in 2018 for hand-picking a public relations company for the Zimbabwe Power Company without going to tender.
He was slapped with four years’ imprisonment, but 18 months were conditionally suspended.
