Former Beitbridge prosecutor Tarcisious Moyo, who is fighting his dismissal from government service after a fallout with Deputy Attorney-General Florence Ziyambi, has described Attorney-General Johannes Tomana’s handling of the matter as “irrational”.
In his heads of argument filed on July 17 at the Labour Court, Moyo said Tomana was being “irrational” by referring his grievances to Ziyambi, whom he is at loggerheads with.
Moyo allegedly clashed with Ziyambi over a case involving her nephew.
The Public Service Commission (PSC), Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs David Mangota and Tomana are cited as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents. Ziyambi, the former director of public prosecutions in the Attorney-General’s Office, had transferred Moyo from Beitbridge to her office in Harare after their alleged fallout, but he refused arguing that the transfer was unlawful.
However, Tomana went on to withdraw prosecuting authority from Moyo.
“Such conduct . . . was irrational, so outrageous in its logic so that no sensible administrative authority, acting carefully and dutifully, could have set about addressing the question in the manner 3rd respondent (Tomana) did. See memorandum dated 7th October 2010. Such irrational decision is reviewable,” Moyo said.
He also accused Tomana of publishing the withdrawal of the Attorney-General’s power to prosecute from Moyo to third parties in breach of contractual regulations.
Moyo, who was based at the Beitbridge Magistrates’ Courts, filed an application in April last year at the Labour Court in Bulawayo for review of his transfer to Harare and his subsequent dismissal by the PSC after he had been stripped of prosecution powers by Tomana.
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He described the action taken against him as “constructive dismissal”.
But the PSC in its notice of opposition said Moyo had no case as he refused to be transferred for fear of being discharged and now claimed to have been dismissed.
“Member should have transferred first and then raised his grievance from his new station.
“Member resigned to avoid being discharged, but is now claiming that he was constructively dismissed. “On that note it suffices to say there is no substantial evidence to support member’s claim that he was dismissed,” the PSC submitted.
In his affidavit, Moyo said his fallout with Ziyambi emanated from a case he received in 2007 between the State and Clemence Tsatsa, who worked as a night auditor at Holiday Inn in Beitbridge.
Tsatsa was being accused of rape by a fellow employee.
The fellow employee, whom Moyo said he later discovered was Ziyambi’s nephew, worked as a buyer at the hotel and was being investigated by Tsatsa.
