NewsDay journo to testify in SMM case

By The NewsDay | Apr. 23, 2012 | 2 Min read

Shabanie Mashaba Mines (SMM) administrator Afaras Gwaradzimba is set to appear before the Parliamentary Privileges Committee tomorrow to face contempt of Parliament charges levelled against him in August last year. The charges stem from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energys damning report on SMM which recommended that Gwaradzimba be investigated for contempt of […]

The charges stem from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energys damning report on SMM which recommended that Gwaradzimba be investigated for contempt of Parliament after he allegedly made offensive remarks in an interview with NewsDay.

Last December, Speaker of the House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo said there was sufficient evidence to charge Gwaradzimba with contempt of Parliament.

Part of Moyos ruling reads: Examples of such utterances are that the MPs involved in the investigation of the matter are not honourable, that they work for (Mutumwa) Mawere, that they are alarmists with special interest in SMM Holdings and that they were shouting at Gwaradzimba. These utterances establish a prima facie case of contempt of Parliament.

Moyo then appointed a five-member committee made up of MPs from the House of Assembly to investigate the issue.

Mines committee chairman Edward Chindori-Chininga and Veneranda Landa, the NewsDay reporter who wrote the story, are also expected to testify in the matter.

The five-member committee is made up of Mazowe Central MP Shepherd Mushonga (MDC-T), Harare West MP Jessie Majome (MDC-T), Mberengwa West MP Joram Gumbo (Zanu PF), Tsholotsho South MP Maxwell Dube (MDC) and Chivi Central MP Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana (Zanu PF). Mangwana has been appointed to chair the committee.

Gumbo replaced Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa whose name was withdrawn after lawyers representing SMM, Kyle Attorneys, protested, accusing him of being an interested party.