RULING on the Supreme Court referral application by former Premier Morgan Tsvangirai’s aides accused of possessing dockets allegedly meant to discredit the judicial system will be passed on September 30, magistrate Tendai Mahwe said yesterday. REPORT BY SENIOR REPORTER
The aides — Thabani Mpofu, Mehluli Moyo, Felix Matsinde and Warship Dumba — made the application through their lawyer Alec Muchadehama, arguing that their rights were infringed upon through prosecution of the case.
Muchadehama and prosecutor Michael Reza will furnish the court with written closing submissions before Mahwe passes ruling.
Reza, however, told the court that he would have preferred the submissions to be made orally on the basis that the defence had not produced any evidence to show that the accused persons’ constitutional rights had been infringed.
Earlier during trial, Mpofu accused the Attorney General’s Office of corruption and said their case should be prosecuted by an independent legal practitioner since the AG’s Office was an interested party.
Allegations against Mpofu and his colleagues arose on March 17 when detectives received information that they were in possession of dockets they were privately compiling to discredit the judicial system.
It is alleged the dockets contained information that the police and the AG had refused to investigate cases of corruption involving prominent officials including the AG Johannes Tomana and Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri.
Police detectives investigating the case combed Mpofu’s residence and retrieved, among other things, laptops, i-pads, family photo albums and a pistol. Mpofu has since been fined for illegal possession of the firearm.
