Human rights lawyer Innocent Gonese of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights on 29 June 2023 lodged a complaint with the Public Service
Commission (PSC) over the illegal and partisan conduct of Nathaniel
Marusho, a school head, who was nominated to contest local authority
elections set for 23 August 2023 as a candidate for the ruling ZANU PF
party.
Marusho is employed by the PSC under Ministry of Primary and Secondary
Education as a Headmaster at Mvurwi High School in Mashonaland Central
province.
In a letter, which was written by Gonese and delivered to PSC, the
human rights lawyer protested that Marusho was still attending to his
duties at Mvurwi High School after his nomination, which is a
violation of section 200 of the Constitution as read with the
provisions of section 119(2)(g) of the Electoral Act.
In the letter, Gonese stated that by associating himself with a
political party, Marusho was violating the provisions of the
Constitution and of the Electoral Act, which are designed to ensure
the political neutrality of members of the public service.
Gonese indicated that Marusho’s employment with the PSC must have been
terminated before his nomination by way of resignation and that he
cannot continue working as a civil servant after the submission of his
nomination papers.
The human rights lawyer stated that Marusho can either elect to be a
politician or be employed as a civil servant but cannot do both.
Gonese asked the PSC to confirm within three days whether Marusho’s
deemed resignation had come into effect and if he had stopped
reporting for duty failure of which he would institute appropriate
legal proceedings against him.