WHILE Katima Mulilo was lurching from one financial and management crisis to the next last year, there was one particularly heated meeting between the elected and appointed officials responsible for running the affairs of the town.
Yesterday that meeting came back to haunt the town’s Mayor, Michael Simovu Mudabeti, when he was found guilty in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court on charges of assault and assault by threat. Mudabeti (48), however, left the court with little more than a slap on the wrist.Magistrate Francis Mukasa cautioned and discharged him following guilty verdicts on the two charges that the Mayor had denied.The Magistrate found Mudabeti guilty of assault for sticking his finger in the face of Town Treasurer, Edwin Liswani Kambinda, and guilty of assault by threat for threatening Town Clerk Agnes Limbo that he would beat her up.These incidents took place during a management meeting on September 1 2003, the court heard during the Mayor’s trial.That meeting took place only some three weeks after Limbo and Kambinda had been reinstated in their positions to end a month-long suspension from their posts.During their suspension, there had been a stand-off between them and Mudabeti, during which the two officials and the Mayor accused each other of alleged financial irregularities that each claimed had been uncovered in the Town Council.At the September 1 meeting, the court heard during the Mayor’s trial, the officials took him to task for having allegedly wrongfully used a vehicle belonging to the Town Council over a weekend.Mudabeti was apparently upset by what he regarded as false allegations and reacted by pushing his finger into Kambinda’s face, while he told Limbo that he would beat her.Mudabeti stood his trial without legal representation.Public Prosecutor Pieter Smit handled the prosecution.Mudabeti (48), however, left the court with little more than a slap on the wrist.Magistrate Francis Mukasa cautioned and discharged him following guilty verdicts on the two charges that the Mayor had denied.The Magistrate found Mudabeti guilty of assault for sticking his finger in the face of Town Treasurer, Edwin Liswani Kambinda, and guilty of assault by threat for threatening Town Clerk Agnes Limbo that he would beat her up.These incidents took place during a management meeting on September 1 2003, the court heard during the Mayor’s trial.That meeting took place only some three weeks after Limbo and Kambinda had been reinstated in their positions to end a month-long suspension from their posts.During their suspension, there had been a stand-off between them and Mudabeti, during which the two officials and the Mayor accused each other of alleged financial irregularities that each claimed had been uncovered in the Town Council.At the September 1 meeting, the court heard during the Mayor’s trial, the officials took him to task for having allegedly wrongfully used a vehicle belonging to the Town Council over a weekend.Mudabeti was apparently upset by what he regarded as false allegations and reacted by pushing his finger into Kambinda’s face, while he told Limbo that he would beat her.Mudabeti stood his trial without legal representation.Public Prosecutor Pieter Smit handled the prosecution.
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