The audio evidence recorded from former NatPham board member George Washaya in which he exonerated the former Health and Child Care minister David Parirenyatwa in a matter in which he stands accused of abusing his office has been declared inaudible .
Constantine Masango, the supervisor for recorders and transcribers at the Harare Magistrate’s court testified in court to the effect that the audio obtained from Washaya was not audible and it could take at least a month to try and transcribe it.
As a result of the inaudibility of the mechanically recorded testimony, Masango told the court that the only evidence put on record was from the handwritten notes by the deputy chief magistrate Elijah Makomo in a development that raises a stink.
Parirenyatwa’s defence had long raised an alarm that the notes by Makomo were prejudicial as they were differing from the ones that had been noted by his counsel therefore applying for the matter to be reviewed at the High Court.
Makomo however dismissed the application saying the defense was trying to delay trial and making mountains out of mould hills.
He said the notes he had noted were correct and they differed with those of the defense slightly as a result of differences in choice of words and as he is ‘only’ obliged to capture where the merits of the case are.
The application was dismissed.
When Washaya testified, the court heard that the former minister had not committed a criminal offense by suggesting Newman Madzikwa’s hiring.
“As NatPharm board, we discovered that Mrs Sifeku was being overwhelmed with work. Stock levels of drugs continued to shrink, and she would take too long to procure medicines,” he said.
“There was an outcry from the whole country because of her inability. For example, early last year, urgent action was needed to procure drugs during the first quarter of the year, but she only managed to do so in the second quarter.
“The former minister had done a lot of things which benefited NatPharm and we would never take his move to appoint Madzikwa as a wrong one.
The State is led by Brian Vito.