TUZ bosses accused of swindling union

Fungai Lupande Court Reporter
Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ) chief executive Manuel Nyawo and the national organising secretary Michael Nkosana yesterday appeared in court for allegedly swindling the union of over a million dollars.

Nyawo (45) and Nkosana (45) appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo facing three counts of fraud.

The pair is represented by Mr Charles Chinyama.

They are expected back in court on April 7. The complainant is TUZ, represented by its national organising secretary Mr Charles Chinosengwa.

The court heard that TUZ is a duly registered union and has a membership of over 4 000 teachers countrywide. The union receives monthly subscriptions through the Salary Service Bureau.

Prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa said the union’s constitution stipulates that the national executive is the overall administrator and must remit 20 percent of the total revenue.

The court heard that 10 percent of the total revenue should be remitted to provincial accounts on a monthly basis.

Mr Mutizirwa alleged that since August 2009 to date, Nyawo and Nkosana received $1 095 801,50 in monthly subscriptions from members.

The money was deposited into the union’s CBZ bank account, which the pair were signatories.

The pair failed to disburse the subscriptions to provincial and district accounts. It is alleged that sometime in 2011, the union established a Savings and Credit Cooperative Society and assigned Nyawo and Nkosana to do the paperwork.

The pair allegedly compiled the cooperative’s by-laws and forged signatures of some members.

They went on to register the cooperative after forging signatures of officials from the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development.

They allegedly opened another bank account with CBZ bank and proceeded to H and H Micro Finance where they obtained a loan of $50 888, which they converted into their personal use.

In November last year, TUZ agreed that Nyawo and Nkosana should be removed from being signatories.

In January this year, the new executive discovered that the pair misappropriated the union’s funds and decided to carry out a forensic audit.

The pair challenged their removal from being bank signatories at the Harare Civil Court and received reprieve. Between January 29 and February 3, Nyawo and Nkosana allegedly withdrew $24 000 from the union’s CBZ account.

The union lost $1 170 689,50 and nothing was recovered.

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