A former Bulawayo public prosecutor Tarcisius Moyo has accused his boss, Florence Ziyambi, of firing him from work in a bid to block the prosecution of her nephew facing fraud charges.
Ziyambi is the national director of prosecutions. The matter has also sucked in the Attorney General, Johannes Tomana.
Contacted for comment on Tuesday, Tomana confirmed the matter but said Moyo was dismissed by the Public Service Commission because of misconduct.
“I understand that he was involved in some misconduct and went through a disciplinary process and was dismissed by his employer the Public Service Commision. So I can’t talk about that and you can speak to his employer instead,” said Tomana.
But Ziyambi could not be reached for comment as she was said to be out of the country on business.
According to papers in possession of NewsDay, Moyo was fired on January 31, five months after he had written to Tomana complaining about abuse and victimisation by Ziyambi.
Moyo claimed the dismissal letter, signed by Justice and Legal Affairs secretary David Mangota, contradicted another that came from Ziyambi, acknowledge that his concerns to Tomana had been noted and urged him to report for duty in Harare on October 13.
Moyo wrote to Tomana contesting the transfer and did not move to assume duty in Harare. He was subsequently dismissed for being absent from work without official leave.
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“This letter comes about as a culmination of sustained abuse and victimisation of myself by your delegate, the director of public prosecutions (Ziyambi), itself culminating in a manifestly unfair and punitive transfer.
“The abuse and victimisation dates back to January 2007 when I received a case now cited as the case of the state v Clemence Tsatsa,” wrote Moyo before his dismissal.
He said Tsatsa worked as a night auditor at Holiday Inn Beitbridge and had been accused of rape by Pembere, who is also employed at Holiday Inn Beit-bridge.
Pembere worked as a buyer at the hotel and was being investigated by Tsatsa. Pembere later accused Tsatsa of raping his (Pembere) daughter, leading to Tsatsa’s arrest.
Two doctors were asked to conduct investigations into the alleged rape charge and they both discounted the charge. However, Pembere went on to engage a private doctor who concluded there could possibly have been sexual assault.
Moyo said at that stage he declined remand and directed the police to get the opinion of an expert. The case was later taken to the High Court, and was dismissed by judge Justice Nicholas Ndou.
Said Moyo: “All hell broke loose as soon as that judgment was out. Mrs Ziyambi called me and lambasted me for putting it on record that she had instructed me to place the accused on remand on the basis of information she obtained from an anonymous caller.
“She repeated her allegation that I was incompetent and that she would charge me and strip me of my authority to prosecute. She also called me a fool,” Moyo added.
He said eventually the matter against Tsatsa was withdrawn after Pembere together with the alleged rape victim fled to South Africa, after getting wind that his employers wanted him investigated for fraud.
