A former public prosecutor based at the Beitbridge Magistrates’ Court has dragged Attorney-General Johannes Tomana to the Labour Court for alleged unlawful dismissal after the former declined to be transfered to Harare late last year.
The prosecutor, Tarcicius Moyo, recently approached the Labour Court in Bulawayo seeking a review of his transfer and subsequent dismissal by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in January.
In the application, Moyo alleges his transfer was prompted by his personal clashes with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Florence Ziyambi, over a case involving the latter’s nephew. He cited the PSC, Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs David Mangota and Tomana as first, second and third respondents, respectively.
Part of the application reads: “The decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (Ziyambi) to transfer applicant (Moyo) from Beitbridge Magistrates’ Courts for the reason that applicant had been acquitted of baseless criminal and disciplinary charges constituted a punitive transfer which offends against Section 13 (4) of SI 1/2000 of the Public Service Regulations (which gives an aggrieved person the right to air his or her grievances). The Director of Public Prosecutions was acting for and on behalf of 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents.
“Applicant was undeserving of that treatment as he had a right to raise a grievance against the Director of Public Prosecutions in terms of Section 55 of the Public Service Regulations SI 1/2000. 3rd respondent’s (Tomana) failure to deal with applicant’s grievance in terms of the law (regulations) denied applicant of lawful means of having his grievances transparently heard and determined, and was in itself a violation of the law,” said Moyo.
He said Tomana and Mangota acted unlawfully by discharging him from employment on November 17 2010. But, the dismissal letter was handed to Moyo on January 31 2011.
In his affidavit, Moyo said his fallout with Ziyambi emanated from a case he received in 2007 between the State and Clemency Tsatsa, a night auditor at Holiday Inn in Beitbridge, who was accused of raping Surprise Pembere’s daughter.
Pembere was a buyer at the same hotel. Moyo said he later discovered Pembere was Ziyambi’s nephew and was being investigated by Tsatsa for fraud at the hotel.
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Moyo said two doctors were asked to conduct investigations into the alleged rape and they both discounted the charge.
However, Pembere went on to engage a private doctor who concluded there could possibly have been a sexual assault.
Moyo said by that time, he had declined remand of Tsatsa and directed the police to get the opinion of an expert.
He said eventually the matter against Tsatsa was withdrawn by the State after Pembere, together with the alleged rape victim (his daughter) reportedly fled to South Africa after getting wind that his employers wanted him investigated by the police for fraud.
