PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has suspended Prosecutor-General (PG) Johannes Tomana and appointed a three-member tribunal headed by retired High Court judge Justice Moses Chinhengo to investigate allegations of improper conduct levelled against him.
Source: Prosecutor-General Tomana suspended – NewsDay Zimbabwe July 8, 2016
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU/DESMOND CHINGARANDE
Mugabe told journalists at State House yesterday that Advocate Ray Goba will be Acting PG until the tribunal has completed its investigations on Tomana.
“I have suspended the Prosecutor-General at the request of the JSC (Judicial Service Commission) and the President having powers to appoint an Acting Prosecutor-General has seen it fit to appoint Advocate Ray Hemmington Goba to the office with effect from July 25, 2016,” he said. Other members of the tribunal are Emmanuel Magade and Melania Matshiya.
This came as Tomana’s lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu requested zHarare provincial magistrate Vakai Chikwekwe to recuse himself from the case citing conflict of interest.
Mpofu said it was not proper for Chikwekwe, who sat in the initial court, to preside over its trial. Chikwekwe directed Mpofu to put his request in writing and the matter was remanded to today for determination.
The Chinhengo tribunal has been tasked to investigate Tomana on charges of defying court orders and criminal abuse of office when he withdrew sabotage charges against two military officers who were allegedly caught in a foiled attempt to bomb Mugabe’s Gushungo dairy plant in Mazowe in January this year.
Goba, a senior advocate with Harare Advocates Chambers, has vast legal experience having worked in the then Attorney-General’s Office before migrating to Namibia where he spent over a decade as government attorney-general.
Meanwhile, Mugabe has also appointed members of the Land Commission and filled up vacancies in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
The Land Commission will be chaired by Tendai Bare, who will be deputised by Tadius Muzoroza. Other members of the commission are Abdul Gabriel Nyathi, Jeanette Marie Manjengwa, Judith Buzuzi, Emmanuel Nyamusa, Margaret Chinamhora, Edmore Ndudzo and Luke Taurai Buka.
New members of Zec are Ngoni Kundidzora, Daniel Chigaru, Choice Sabeta, Sibongile Ndlovu, Netsai Mushonga with Joyce Kazembe bouncing back following expiry of her first term of office.
Petunia Chiriseri is now a member of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission while Netty Musanhu will sit on the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
COMMENTS