Vutete is suing Magistrate Zuze for US$54 400 for revoking a free bail order which he had granted to the Chipinge farm manager, who was charged with contravening Section 3 of the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act for failing to vacate a gazetted farm in May last year.
The Magistrate had initially granted Vutete free bail last year and ordered him to reside at Lot (1) Gungunyana Farm in Chipinge and not to interfere with a new farmer who had seized the farm where Vutete was a farm manager.
But on 13 May 2009, while in the midst of Vutetes trial, Magistrate Zuze revoked the free bail which he had granted to the farm manager and remanded him in custody.
Magistrate Zuze jailed Vutete for 15 days before he was granted bail by the High Court after he petitioned the superior court to review his case.
In summons served on Magistrate Zuze and Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, Vutetes lawyer Nyaradzo Maphosa of Sawyer and Mkushi Legal Practitioners said the Magistrate was vindictive and abused his office and authority when he sentenced Vutete to 15 days in jail.
Maphosa says Magistrate Zuze maliciously and without lawful cause ordered Vutetes incarceration by arbitrarily invoking his bail when no application had been made by the State to that effect and no complaint had been made in court that the farm manager had breached any of his bail conditions.
The plaintiff (Vutete) suffered untold pain and suffering and trauma as a result of incarceration. As a result of the 1st Defendant [Zuze]s unlawful and wrongful actions, the plaintiff suffered further damages of legal fees in hiring a legal practitioner to obtain a warrant for his liberation, read part of the summons.
Magistrate Zuzes misadventures in revoking Vutetes bail had also attracted the wrath of the Attorney General (AG)s Office which joined Vutetes defence lawyer in strongly rebuking him for grossly misdirecting himself by revoking bail and imprisoning Vutete.
The provincial Magistrates bungling which was exposed by The Legal Monitor last month, validates lawyers and human rights organisations criticism of Magistrate Zuzes dereliction of professional duty.
Magistrate Zuze is no stranger to controversy. In 2009 he convicted and sentenced Hon. Mathias Mateu Mlambo and Hon. Meki Makuyana, two Members of Parliament whose respective constituencies are in Chipinge.
The two have since been suspended from Parliament by Austin Zvoma, the Clerk of Parliament pending the determination of their appeals in the High Court, although the suspension has also been challenged by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights acting for the legislators.
In January, Magistrate Zuze blocked the enforcement of a High Court order that would have resulted in him losing access to a farm that he was allocated under the controversial land reform programme.
He convicted four Chipinge farmers-namely Algernon Taffs of Chirega Farm, Z.F Joubert of Stilfontein, Mike Odendaal of Hillcrest and Mike Jahne of Silverton Farm-for refusing to vacate their properties and sentenced them to a US$800 fine each and gave them 24 hours notice to vacate their homes.
In convicting the four farmers, Magistrate Zuze did not disclose that he was holding an offer letter issued in November 2009 for Jahnes Silverton Farm when the farmers appeared before him. So Magistrate Zuze had a direct interest in the case which, in normal circumstances, would have legally obliged him to recuse himself from considering the matter.
Post published in: News