Harare - The Attorney Generals Office has forbidden prosecutors from consenting to bail without consulting their superiors.Florence Ziyambi, the Director of Public Prosecutions, ordered prosecutors not to consent to bail which would have been applied by suspects in the magistrates courts.
Ziyambi first ordered the prosecutors not to consent to bail applications in a memo written to them on 6 December 2010.
In the memo, which is in possession of Radio VOP, Ziyambi said authority to consent to bail on third schedule offences in the Magistrates court must be sought from the following: the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and Chief Law Officers.
Third schedule offences include rape, murder, robbery, assault orindecent assault among other cases.
The chief law officers who should give authority to consent to bail include, Tawanda Zvekare, Roderick Tokwe, Michael Mugabe, Martha Cheda, Lovack Masuku and another one only identified as Takuva.
Heads of Sections who should be consulted by all prosecutors before consenting to bail are Tokwe, who heads the appeals section, Zvekare who is in charge of general litigation, Chris Mutangadura, who heads the economic crimes section and Morgan Dube, the head of the setdown office.
But in another memo issued on 12 January 2011, Ziyambi amended her earlier order and barred the prosecutors from consenting to bail in any matter without the authority of the AG, Ziyambi, chief law officers and heads of sections.
Post published in: Politics