HARARE - Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana has said he will not heed calls for his resignation made at the MDC's 9th annual conference in Harare last weekend.(Pictured: Attorney General Johannes Tomana (r) greets ZDF commander General Constantine Chiwenga)Tomana professed ignorance in an interview with The Zimbabwean on Sunday of the resolution that emerged from the MDC annual conference last Sunday stating that his continued tenure as AG in the inclusive government was one of the toxic issues blighting the credibility of the inclusive government.
The MDC passed a resolution categorically stating that Tomana must resign.
Article 6 of the conference resolution states: “Aware of the conflict and divisive effect of the unresolved issues of the AG and the Reserve Bank governor. Conference calls that in the national interests, Johannes Tomana and Gideon Gono must resign forthwith.”
But a defiant Tomana told The Zimbabwean on Sunday that there was no legal basis for such a call.
Tomana was unilaterally sworn-in by President Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s AG on December 16 at State House.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was outraged and charged that his appointment was in violation of the global political agreement between President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara that gave birth to the inclusive government.
The agreement stipulates that there will be consultation on all key government appointments between the three principals.
“You need to trace it (MDC resolution for him to resign) to a bit of authority,” Tomana said. “In this case they are basing it on what law?”
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said: “Its not being forced upon him. It is an appeal on his conscience. The good in him should prevail. In the national interest, he must resign. But there is realisation that there will be resistance from the AG, thats why there is reference to SADC.”
Last week MDC refererred the standoff between the MDC principals and Mugabe over the continued tenure of Tomana and Gono to the SADC chairman Jacob Zuma after Mugabe declared that the two would stay in their job.
A fierce Zanu (PF) supporter, Tomana, who was deputy attorney-general (crime), was appointed substantive AG last year to fill a post left vacant by Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, fired last year after a three-man tribunal found him guilty of conduct inconsistent with a public official after repeatedly clashing with Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa.
The MDC and human rights activists have accused of being biased against perceived opponents of the Mugabe and Zanu (PF) a charge he denies.
Meanwhile the MDC is understood to be drafting a new AG Office Bill to give greater autonomy and independence of the AG’s office from the Justice ministry.
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