Jacob Mafume
What was before the Constitutional Court, was the consistent misconduct by the Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana who had defied several court rulings by refusing to issue certificates for the private prosecution of Zanu PF apologist and MP, Munyaradzi Kereke who is facing serious charges of raping a minor.
The application for private prosecution by the complainant’s guardian had been filed after the National Prosecuting declined to prosecute Tomana.
On Wednesday, Tomana was also found guilty by the Constitutional Court of denying to issue another private prosecution certificate to Telecel Zimbabwe in a case in which its former chairperson, Jane Mutasa, and a Zanu PF supporter is being accused of defrauding the mobile communications service provider, $1, 7 million in airtime cards.
The Constitutional Court in its ruling made it very clear that there is no one above the law and gave Tomana a suspended 30-day jail sentence.
The breach of a court order is a serious constitutional violation and in our view, Tomana has committed a serious act of misconduct, which warrants that his contract of employment as the PG has compromised the NPA. Therefore, his conditions of service as the PG are no longer tenable.
We are appeal to the PG to do the honourable thing and resign; otherwise the President should dismiss him in terms of the Constitution.
We also note that the PG is in Russia on a purport government business trip and we wonder what he is negotiating for on behalf of the government when he is not an advisor to the government. The Attorney-General is the advisor to the government not the PG. What he is doing in Russia is not about the law because Zimbabwe and Russia use different laws and we only assume that
what he is doing there is up to no good.
The biggest sin in Zimbabwe for years has been the culture of impunity and the blatant disrespect of the law. In Zimbabwe, the disrespect of the law has been defined by Zanu PF since the Gukurahundi era in the 1980s when over 30 000 people were killed, during Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 when people were displaced from their homes and the recent murder of thousands of opposition supporters by Zanu PF and state agents.
The Zimbabwe law reports are a true reflection of human rights abuses in the country with the perpetrators are well-known but they have not been brought to book.
Among those that have been tortured is; the human rights defender, Jestina Mukoko and Tawanda Bvumo while opposition leaders such as Tonderai Ndira have been murdered with Itai Dzamara, another human rights defender being abducted early this year but his whereabouts still remain unknown.
Our appeal as the PDP is that the precedence set by the Constitutional Court should apply to all those in Zanu PF who have killed willy-nilly and those that continue to flagrantly disrespect Zimbabwe’s laws.
We note that the Saviour Kasukuwere, the local government minister has since last month been defying a High Court order compelling him to reinstate 14 Gweru councilors whom he unconstitutionally dismissed in August.
As the PDP, we hope the Constitutional Court ruling on Wednesday will give the drained and suffering Zimbabweans hope and belief in their Constitution and that they will soon have the capacity to determine their own destiny.
Jacob Mafume
National Spokesperson
Post published in: Featured