By Goodwill Zunidza
Dynamos board of trustees chairman Bernard Mariott’s status still hangs in the balance after his fraud trial failed to complete at the Harare Magistrates Court today.
When the case resumed before magistrate Yeukai Dzuda, the State’s lead witness Erickson Mvududu punched holes in Mariott’s sworn statement that he held 51% of the club’s shares as the only surviving founder member.
Under cross-examination by Dzidzai Josiah, the State Counsel, Mvududu averred that Mariott could not be referring to the Zifa-registered Dynamos FC which operates under the 1963 constitution that explicitly provides for each member to own one share apiece.
Mvududu, who identified himself as a team official, also stated that any legal proceeding undertaken by the club ultra-vires the team constitution was invalidated by the 2006 Supreme Court judgement, including a 1999 meeting that led to the establishment of Dynamos Pvt Ltd.
Mariott’s lawyer Herbert Mutasa wanted to know from the second witness Garikai Zuze how the Electoral College he said he belonged to had been constituted for it to be legal.
Zuze referred the question to Esau Amisi, secretary of the parallel Board of Trustees that is against Mariott, which answer did not satisfy Mutasa saying Zuze was among those who had reported the case to police and therefore must speak for himself.
While magistrate Dzuda was anxious for fast proceedings in order to conclude the case this week it was not to be as Mutasa further dragged Zuze to a literacy class asking him to pinpoint the section in the club constitution which entitled him to a share of the team.
This was typically beyond the unassuming Zuze who said he had only been advised by Amisi of the fact and needed 30 minutes to go through the document and locate the required clause.
Although Dzuda permitted him only five minutes – and Zuze appeared ready with an answer after the short break – the magistrate announced she was postponing the matter to May 31.
She did not state whether she would continue presiding given that she has since moved to Kadoma on transfer hence her prior resolve to conclude the case speedily.
