Prosecutor-General (PG) Johannes Tomana is no longer fit to continue in his position and should either immediately resign or President Robert Mugabe should fire him, legal experts, MPs and opposition parties have said.
BY Everson Mushava
United Kingdom-based lawyer, Alex Magaisa said Tomana was no longer suitable for PG’s office and Mugabe should activate section 259 (7) of the Constitution and fire him for gross incompetence and misconduct.
“Here is a man whose constitutional mandate is to carry out prosecutions on behalf of the State, but now he himself has been found to have violated the highest law in the land, and to be in contempt of court,” he said.
Tomana was on Wednesday slapped with a 30-day jail term by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) for contempt of court, which was wholly suspended on condition he issues two private prosecution certificates in 10 days.
Tomana had defied High Court and Supreme Court rulings by refusing to issue certificates for the private prosecution of Zanu PF Bikita West MP, Munyaradzi Kereke, who is facing charges of raping a minor and he also refused to issue another to Telecel Zimbabwe, in a case where its former chairperson, Jane Mutasa is being accused of defrauding the telecommunications company of $1,7 million in airtime recharge cards.
Magaisa said Tomana no longer had moral authority to prosecute after failing to uphold his constitutional duty to uphold section 261 of the Constitution.
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“How does he call upon others to be law-abiding citizens when he himself has failed and to do the same?” Magaisa queried. MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said: “At any rate, should he refuse to voluntarily step down from office, the relevant constitutional provisions for his removal from the office of PG should be promptly activated.”
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson and lawyer, Jacob Mafume said the breach of a court order was a serious constitutional violation.
“In our view, Tomana has committed a serious act of misconduct, which warrants that his contract of employment as the PG has compromised the National Prosecution Authority. Therefore, his conditions of service as the PG are no longer tenable,” he said.
According to section 187(2) as read with section 259(7) of the Constitution, a tribunal can be appointed by the President to look at removing a PG from office.
MDC-T secretary for legal affairs, Jessie Majome said the ruling proved that no one was above the law.
“The ConCourt ruling has given a new lease of life to access to criminal justice for ordinary people who the PG is not connected to,” she said.
Majome was one of the most vocal MPs, together with MDC Proportional Representation MP, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and MDC-T chief whip, Innocent Gonese in trying to force
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who defended Kereke, to allow private prosecution in the MPs’ rape case.
Majome said she was appalled that the Executive had helped the PG in subverting the legislative process to amend the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act so that it stops Tomana’s defiance of the law.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said amendments giving the office of PG more power should be blocked for the public good.
MDC spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi said: “We expect him to put the interests of the generality of Zimbabweans before his own pervasions and excesses.”
