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Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge Town Council has withdrawn charges against the managing director of Solna Enterprises, Admire Sihlahla (44) accused of swindling council of US$34 500 in a deal involving the procurement of bitumen.The local authority filed a criminal case against Sihlahla of 5 Trinity Road Greendale in Harare after he failed to supply it with the equipment to resurface roads in 2010.

The case has been dragging on at the Beitbridge magistrate courts with Sihlahla denying the charges. Through its lawyer Mr Patrick Tererai of Tererai Legal Practice, council last week told the court that it was dropping the charges after it signed an agreement with Sihlahla’s lawyer Mr Everest Chatambudza to settle the matter out of court.

He said the businessman had made an undertaking to repay the local authority their money over a period of three months and that he had put forward his Greendale house as surety.

Mr Tererai said in the event that Sihlahla failed to honour the agreement, Beitbridge Town council would attach his house. Charges against Sihlahla arose in November 2010 when Beitbridge Town Council advertised a tender for the supply of Bitumen 80/100 to surface Mashakada to Mashavire road.

Sihlahla who is the managing director of Solna Enterprises responded to the tender purporting that his company could supply the local authority with 149 drums of bitumen within a few days after a payment of US$34 425 has been deposited into his company’s bank account.

On December 10, 2010 Beitbridge Town Council deposited the money into Solna Enterprises’ Standard Chartered Bank account.
Soon after getting the money Sihlahla became elusive until he resurfaced on October 5 last year when he approached the local authority and swore under oath that he would supply the bitumen in batches of 50 drums within the same month.

He, however, failed to own up to his promise until Beitbridge Town Council took legal action resulting in his arrest in                                Harare.