A prolific Midlands minister in the late President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet, has become the first senior former government official to be jailed for criminal abuse of office.

The Midlands provincial minister Jason Machaya was, Tuesday, sentenced to 4 years in prison by a Gweru magistrate.

Machaya and co-accused Chaisanyerwa Chibururu will however, serve an effective 2 and half years in jail each after 18 months were conditionally suspended. The charges related to the unlawful allocation of residential stands in Gokwe.

During trial, court heard that Machaya intentionally allocated 17 799 housing stands from State land to land developers who in turn gave him 1,791, stands.

Prosecutor Garudzo Ziyaduma also told court that Machaya allocated 192 commonage stands to the Apostolic Christian Church of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) when he did not have the lawful right to do so.

The duo had denied the charges when their trial started last year but the State proved beyond reasonable doubt that they committed the offences.-state media