Only Katanda, who resides in Guruve in Mashonaland Central province
enlisted the services of Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, to assist him in getting the CSC to take remedial action
against Samuel Machumi, who is employed by CSC through the Ministry of
Primary and Secondary Education as a teacher at Nyamhondoro Secondary
School in Guruve in Mashonaland Central province, by terminating his
employment contract so as to stop flouting the Constitution, the
Electoral Act and some provisions of the CSC.
According to section 200(3)(a) and (b) of the Constitution, civil
servants are barred from acting in a partisan manner and from
furthering the interests of any political party or cause.
On Thursday 20 July 2023, Chinopfukutwa wrote a letter to CSC
requesting it to urgently act in terminating Machuma’s contract of
employment as a teacher saying he cannot remain as a civil servant and
at the same time a politician.
Chinopfukutwa reminded the CSC that it issued a notice dated 17 May
2023 in which it stated that members of the Civil Service who wished
to contest in the forthcoming general elections either as councillors
or members of the National Assembly should write a letter to it
declaring their intention to contest the election and the members
would be deemed to have automatically resigned on the date on which
authority to contest would have been granted.
He said despite it being clear that Machumi is contesting for a local
government seat as a ZANU PF political party candidate for Ward 11 in
Guruve South, he had continued attending to his teaching duties at
Nyamhondoro Secondary School.
The CSC, Chinopfukutwa said, must within five days, institute measures
to effect Machumi’s automatic resignation from employment as a teacher
failure of which he will consider instituting appropriate legal action
to have him barred from continuing to discharge his duties as a
teacher.