Chawatama is on the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu) wanted list, which had summoned him to appear in court on Tuesday over a dispute with a Borrowdale resident as well as allegations of abuse of power.
According to court summons dated March 18, 2021, Chawatama was supposed to appear together with former town clerk Hosiah Chisango.
The court appearance was expected to establish whether he was, indeed, on the run after the council boss previously denied the charge.
However, a leaked council internal memo dated March 19 indicated that Chawatama was cleared to use a council vehicle to travel to South Africa until mid-April.
“Kindly allow engineer I Z Chawatama to use vehicle registration number AAE 7176 Nissan NP300 (diesel) to travel to South Africa between March 22 and April 14,” the memo read.
Contacted for comment, Sacu head Tabani Mpofu yesterday said he had not seen the memo which cleared Chawatama to travel to South Africa.
“I haven’t seen the memo you are talking about. I also don’t know about his whereabouts,” Mpofu said.
Chawatama made headlines recently after allegedly escaping a high-speed police chase near Chitungwiza.
He is wanted by the law enforcement agents for assuming town clerk duties unlawfully.
Chawatama has not been seen since then, but he denied being on the run.
