BY CHARLES LAITON
RETIRED chief magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe, who is facing charges of criminal abuse of office and defeating the course of justice during his tenure of office, yesterday pleaded not guilty to all charges levelled against him, saying he was being framed by his former workmates after exposing their misdemeanours.
Guvamombe was forced to retire in March this year after 35 years of service, with the State raising several allegations of misconduct against him. These included allowing former Cabinet ministers Supa Mandiwanzira (Information Communication Technology) and Saviour Kasukuwere (Local Government), who had pending court cases to do their law attachment programme at the Harare Magistrates Courts.
In his lengthy defence through lawyers Jonathan Samukange and Brighton Pabwe, Guvamombe lashed out at his former workmates and colleagues, accusing them of fabricating the charges to cover up their sexual harassment of female subordinates.
The former chief magistrate further told High Court judge Justice Felistas Chatukuta that his former male subordinates framed him after he reprimanded them for sexually harassing female members of staff.
“He (Guvamombe) will finally state that these are trumped-up allegations motivated by malice on the part of his erstwhile colleagues who are being vindictive after having reprimanded them on divers’ occasions from committing sexual harassment on female members of staff, including magistrates and irregular payments of allowances that the secretariat was paying itself to the exclusion of magistrates and failure to use retention funds to improve operations in the department. For example, at the Harare Magistrate Court, litigants use the bucket system in all toilets as there is no running water,” the lawyers said.
Among the criminal charges, Guvamombe is being accused of forcing deputy chief magistrate Elijah Makomo to recuse himself from handling a matter involving one Nathan Mnaba, but in his defence, he said his actions on the matter were above board.
“The accused (Guvamombe) will deny ever exerting any pressure on Makomo or anyone for that matter and stands by correspondence that his deputy (Gibson) Mandaza wrote and a letter Mr Makomo wrote to Mr (Hosea) Mujaya. If anything what he only did was to investigate serious allegations of corruption levelled against Makomo, the trial magistrate,” he said.
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Turning to Mandiwanzira and Kasukuwere’s case, Guvamombe said there was no need for him to seek guidance from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) specifically for attachment of the University of Zimbabwe faculty of law students.
“He will state that at all material times, he followed the procedure and in the normal course of his duty forwarded the attachment letter with the list of students from University of Zimbabwe for the attention of the deputy chief magistrate, who in his wisdom acted according to the norm, procedure and practice,” his lawyers added.
“He will state that in his entire experience and practice as the chief magistrate until his retirement, he had never been asked before to communicate or seek directions for the JSC specifically for attachment of the UZ faculty of law students. The accused will further state that the attachment of the two students was in itself not a show of favour but an academic requirement in the UZ law faculty.”
The matter continues today with the State represented by Whisper Mabhaudhi, Chipo Muronda and Tendai Shonhayi.
