ZLHR intervention saves nurse

Mugove Blessing Chihota was dismissed from her job at the hospital in November 2008 for allegedly absconding from work for a month. More trouble followed in March this year when she was charged with threats to commit crime as defined in Section 186 (1) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23. The charges arose from allegations that Chihota allegedly sent a wrapped live bullet to Nderere as an act of intimidation. Magistrate Archie Wochiunga acquitted Chihota recently after ruling that State witnesses failed to link Chihota to the commission of the offence.From the State evidence, the physical element of the offence was not established. There is no direct evidence linking the accused person to the offence, said Magistrate Wochiunga in his ruling.The State had sought to link Chihota to the case by alleging that the bullet delivered to Nderere ZLHR intervention saves nurseHARARE-Judge President Justice George Chiweshe will preside over the trial of four ministers and several top state security agents who are being sued for damages exceeding $150 000 by Mapfumo Garutsa, a Norton resident who was a victim of abduction and subsequent enforced disappearance.The trial will commence during the week beginning 30 August at the High Court.Garutsa is claiming a total of $190 000 in damages which he suffered after he was allegedly abducted by state security agents and charged with committing acts of terrorism and banditry.The abductee, who was accused of receiving training in Botswana and bombing police stations, was kept incommunicado for 22 days from 30 November 2008 until 22 December 2008 when he was brought to a police station. His captors accused him of bombing a bridge along Manyame River and Manyame railway bridge.Garutsa says he was subjected to torture and was starved of food while detained at a prison in Goromonzi. He says he was only served a small plate of sadza with dried vegetables. He says his captors assaulted him and immersed him in a sink full of water.Ministers in court over abductionThe abductees lawyer Alec Muchadehama says the experience was traumatic and is still haunting his client to date.The four ministers are former State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, co-Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and former co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa.Happyton Bonyongwe, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and Paradzai Zimondi, the Commissioner of Prisons are being sued together with seven top police officers who include Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi, Chief Superintendent Chrispen Makedenge, Senior Assistant Commissioner Nyathi, Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi, Superintendent Joel Shasha Tenderere, Superintendent Regis Takaitei and Detective Chief Inspector Mpofu.The abductee is claiming $50 000 damages for unlawful assault and torture, $50 000 as damages for the abduction, enforced disappearance and unlawful detention incommunicado. $50 000 for malicious prosecution and $40 000 for unlawful detention.Garutsa, a victim of enforced disappearances which were outlawed by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992, says he was seriously tortured during the period he was held incommunicado.He said the torture was unlawful, inhumane, degrading and violated section 15 of the Constitution and other regional and international human rights instruments such as Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which outlaw torture.Besides Garutsa, other victims of abduction who include Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and human rights activists and a freelance journalist are demanding damages from cabinet ministers and state security agents for their alleged abduction, unlawful detention incommunicado, and deprivation of liberty in 2008.was wrapped in the same termination letter handed to the nurse by the hospital authorities. This was despite that several copies of the same letter existed.In his testimony, Nderere told the court that on 10 March this year, he received a package from his office orderly, Onias Shamhu, which had been dropped off by an unidentified man. Nderere linked Chihota to the offence after telling the court that the letter wrapping the bullet was the dismissal letter he addressed to the nurse. This, he said, had led him to conclude that Chihota was trying to get back at him. Nderere said after receiving the letter he feared his life was in danger and that someone wanted to kill him. In her application for discharge at the close of the State case earlier this month, Chihota, represented by David Hofisi of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, argued that State witnesses had provided no evidence upon which a reasonable court acting carefully might convict Chihota.The witnesses did not lead any evidence incriminating Accused. In fact, their evidence exonerated Accused from the alleged offence, read the discharge application.Apart from Nderere, the State called in two other witnesses, Shamhu and Edith Mutizira, a human resources assistant at the hospital who handed Chihota her dismissal letter. Shamhu stated that the person who had delivered the letter was a man, and not Chihota. Mutizira acknowledged that copies of the letter she handed to Chihota and alleged to have been used to wrap the bullet could have been copied by other people other than the accused. Magistrate Wochiunga concurred with the defence. It is clear that the letter could have originated and edited from at least seven sources, he said.Chihota has since successfully applied to the Health Services Board against her dismissal from work, which she described as unprocedural and caused by bad blood. The hospital dismissed her without carrying any investigations or conducting an internal disciplinary hearing to determine the case in which she was being accused of absconding from work from 15 October 2008 to 14 November the same year. She however contended that she was reporting for work during that time, and hospital staff check-in registers as well as colleagues would testify to this. Though the Health Services Board has overturned Chihotas dismissal, the hospital is still pursuing her. Nderere has written to Chihota asking her to attend a disciplinary hearing on 9 September on the same case.