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Chombo’s woes mount

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HOME Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo has once again been sued in his personal capacity by a Mutare businessman, Tendai Mangwiro, who is seeking an order to compel him to return his seized $1,5 million.

HOME Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo has once again been sued in his personal capacity by a Mutare businessman, Tendai Mangwiro, who is seeking an order to compel him to return his seized $1,5 million.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Mangwiro’s cash was seized by the police in 2012 and he approached the court seeking its return. Several court orders were granted in his favour, but Chombo allegedly persistently refused to budge.

In an application for a mandamus (superior court) order filed at the High Court yesterday, Mangwiro said he was further seeking costs of the suit on a higher scale, accusing Chombo of deliberately being contemptuous of court orders.

“The respondent, Minister of Home Affairs (Chombo), is cited in his personal capacity because I obtained an order against him in case number HC4766/13 in his official capacity, which he failed to comply with,” Mangwiro said in his founding affidavit. “These proceedings seek to compel the minister, personally, to take steps necessary to have the payments made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. His failure to do so will obviously be contemptuous of the order of this honourable court and may/or will result in him being personally lodged in prison, which could not happen if he is sued in his official capacity,” the businessmen said.

“I have sought costs on a higher scale because the respondent’s conduct is reprehensible, for lack of a better word … I am not seeking relief against the government or the State, but to compel the respondent, who is a government official, to do what he is supposed to do in order to satisfy the above-mentioned order.”