HIGH Court judge Justice November Mutshiya yesterday criticised prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s Office for their “culture of consulting” each time they were presented with matters involving politics, urging them to make their own decisions.
REPORT BY CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
Justice Mutshiya made the remarks while hearing a bail application where an ex-Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agent and Bindura University lecturer Obadiah Dodo and his co-accused, a student and a serving member of the police force, Assistant Inspector Collen Musorowegomo, are being charged for allegedly publishing a 2008 election violence report on an American website.
Prosecutor Edmore Makoto had requested for postponement of the matter to today to enable the State to file a response, but his request prompted the court to seek to find the reason for his application before it was granted.
Mutshiya said he thought Makoto would promptly respond to the application without necessarily asking for a postponement given that there were few issues to be dealt with.
“So you need to go and consult and get instructions in order to respond. Can’t you be yourself? Are you saying you have no mandate to be yourself? We have always said prosecutors should be able to deal with matters they present before the courts,” Mutshiya said.
The lawyer representing the accused persons, Alec Muchadehama, complained to the court about the conduct of a Bindura magistrate who reportedly refused to release the court record in time to enable the defence to make the bail application.
“We were encountering problems in securing the record because of the non-co-operation of the magistrate. We had to approach the AG and the Chief Magistrate’s Offices who then intervened and got the court record for us,” Muchadehama said, before presenting a copy of the transcribed court record to the court.
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Dodo (38) and Musorowegomo (39) were arrested for contravening Section 31 (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. The two were remanded in custody when they briefly appeared before Bindura magistrate Godfrey Unzemoyo, who denied them bail arguing they were a flight risk and likely to interfere with State investigations.
It is alleged the two connived to author a document titled Political Intolerance, Diversity and Democracy, Youths Violence in Bindura urban, Zimbabwe, and posted it on a website for the American International Journal of Contemporary Research. The two, however, confirmed authouring the document, but argued that they produced it as a research project for learning purposes and sought protection under the Academic Act. Dodo and Musorowegomo are from the Peace and Governance Studies Department.
