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Chombo faces contempt of court charges

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LOCAL Government minister Ignatius Chombo and officials in his ministry face possible contempt of court charges over the Ndanga chieftainship wrangle in Zaka district, Masvingo province.

LOCAL Government minister Ignatius Chombo and officials in his ministry face possible contempt of court charges over the Ndanga chieftainship wrangle in Zaka district, Masvingo province.

BY RICHARD CHIDZA

Lawyers Mawere and Sibanda Legal Practitioners, representing the aspiring traditional leader Christopher Matumbike, confirmed the dispute and the impending contempt of court proceedings.

Director of Traditional Affairs in Chombo’s ministry, Fanuel Mukwaira, confirmed there had been a meeting to restart the process of selecting substantive Chief Ndanga.

“Yes, we held a meeting to begin the selection process and I am aware that there is a court order. But our legal department advised us that we could go ahead despite the order. I have no other comment to make on the matter,” Mukwaira said last Thursday.

But Matumbike’s lawyer said: “If there was a meeting, then I can confirm that it will be contrary to the provisions of a High Court order. That would naturally give rise to possible contempt of court proceedings and we are taking instructions from our clients regarding the matter.”

Chombo could not be reached for comment yesterday.

According to sources who attended the meeting on Thursday, Mukwaira told the gathering that they had sought advice from the Attorney-General’s Office and took over the process after “the district administrator as well as the provincial administrator failed to conduct the process in an impartial manner”.

The chieftainship row has been raging since the death of Charinda Chimedza in 2008.

A family member said: “After waiting for the traditional two-year mourning period, with assistance from the district administrator (one J Mubako) at the time, the family began the process of finding a successor to Chimedza. Meetings were held and in December, Matumbike was selected to replace Chimedza as substantive Chief Ndanga. However, there were objections that needed to be dealt with.”

According to unsigned minutes of a meeting held on February 11 2011 presided over by Mubako, there were objections to Matumbike’s selection from “some families with interests in the chieftainship”, particularly acting chief Simon Charinda Ndanga’s household.

“There were further allegations of secret meetings with Chigwagwa, Utete, Mutimwi (households) and others implicated,” part of the minutes read.

On March 31 2012, Mubako then wrote to Chombo recommending that Matumbike be installed as substantive Chief Ndanga, citing all meetings that had been held and the resolutions thereof.

But Matumbike claimed that Mubako was “forced into early retirement” days after making the recommendation and was quickly replaced by one Nyede who was said to have declared the selection process as null and void.

Matumbike went to court and obtained a High Court order barring anyone from holding any meeting meant to restart the selection process.

In March 2014, Matumbike then wrote to Chombo appealing for his intervention, accusing Nyede of having received bribes to restart the chief’s selection process.

It is understood that Chombo did not respond to the letter and “neither did he investigate the claims”.

Repeated efforts to contact Nyede, who has since been replaced by one Chivhanga, were fruitless last week.

Chivhanga could also not comment on the matter.