POTRAZ Boss Now A Free Man, State Withdraws Charges

After months and months of court appearances, finally POTRAZ’s head, Dr Gift Machengete is now a free man after the state embarrassingly withdrew charges (again) it leveled against him.

When the it all started Dr Machengete was charged with criminal abuse of office but after failing to come up with a compelling case, the state withdrew those charges and pressed other charges against for breaching the Procurement Regulatory Authority (PRAZ) regulations.

It is this second charge that the state humbly admitted that POTRAZ’s Director General was wrongly accused. As I once reported, I had misgivings as to whether the state has actually a case against Dr Machengete or he was facing some kind of agenda-driven allegations.

To that end, I’m not surprised that the state has withdrawn its charges considering it’s conduct on this case. The tale tell signs were visible to conclude that Dr Machengete was wrongly accused when the state failed to make court appearances for 4 times. We will probably never know if it was a ploy to persecute POTRAZ’s boss.