OFFICIALS in the Prosecutor-General (PG)’s Office do not need special licences or permission to prosecute their boss, Johannes Tomana, except in specific cases as spelt out by law, Harare provincial magistrate Vakai Douglas Chikwekwe heard yesterday.
by PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
The remarks were made by prosecutors Timothy Makoni and Gwinyai Shumba, who told the court the State had powers to prosecute Tomana in the ongoing trial of criminal abuse of office as a public officer.
Makoni and Shumba said they were granted prosecutorial powers by the then Office of the Attorney-General in 2003 and 2006 respectively.
The prosecutors told the court that they had powers to “prosecute anyone” in court except in cases of marital rape, theft of marital property or mining breaches, which needed them to get specific instructions from the PG.
They also argued they had valid prosecuting licences since their admission as prosecutors and, therefore, were properly before the court.
The duo made the submissions after Tomana’s lawyer, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, claimed the two had no authority to prosecute their boss in his official capacity.
Yesterday, the State also filed its written affidavit in response to Tomana’s application, challenging his placement on remand.
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Chikwekwe asked the State to bring the investigating officer to testify on why they arrested Tomana.
Police Assistant Commissioner Thulani Ncube said he arrested Tomana after satisfying himself that there was reasonable suspicion the PG had committed a criminal offence.
Ncube also told the court that Tomana’s prosecution was sanctioned by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
“It was very unreasonable for the Office of the PG to withdraw charges against the two military men, Solomon Makumbe and Silas Pfupa, who were alleged to have been found in possession of weapons that could be used for banditry, insurgency or terrorism,” Ncube said under cross-examination by Mpofu.
Pfupa and Makumbe have been linked to an attempted plot to bomb President Robert Mugabe’s Alpha and Omega dairy plant in Mazowe.
Ncube also claimed Tomana made the decision at the influence of someone, whom he was not at liberty to divulge in court at this stage.
Chikwekwe is set to make a ruling on the matter next Monday.
