A 23-YEAR-OLD Harare man has appeared in court on allegations of impersonating Deputy Chief Justice Paddington Garwe in a bid to obtain information about upcoming Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews for IT officers.
The suspect, Martin Rashai, appeared before Harare magistrate Artwell Sanyatwe on Saturday facing a charge of impersonating a public officer.
He was remanded in custody to today for bail application.
The complainant is the Judicial Service Commission of Zimbabwe.
It is the State’s case that on May 5, the deputy head of human resources at JSC, Sekeni Tafadzwa and human resources officer Abigail Ziti received a WhatsApp message from Rashai, who was using mobile number +263714000834.
The accused allegedly identified himself as Deputy Chief Justice Garwe and requested confirmation of the date for IT officer interviews.
Keep Reading
- Heated estate wrangle sucks in JSC, Sacu
- Magistrates' court for Mkoba
- Ziyambi defends Judiciary Amendment Bill
- Rights activist guns for top judge
He is further alleged to have inquired about a transport officer position at the Kwekwe Magistrates’ Court.
The inquiries raised suspicion among the officials, as it was unusual for a Constitutional Court judge to directly follow up on junior vacancies and communicate without going through the relevant departmental structures.
The officials reportedly informed him that they were not certain about the interview schedule.
Ziti then asked where he was stationed and he allegedly said he was based at the Constitutional Court. Based on that information, she assumed he was, indeed, the Deputy Chief Justice and shared the requested information.
Ziti later attempted to call the number, but it was unreachable. A WhatsApp call went unanswered, although he allegedly responded via text requesting that she sends messages instead.
She then asked him to confirm whether he was, indeed, Deputy Chief Justice Garwe and he allegedly said he was.
Ziti subsequently contacted the Superior Court’s human resources department to verify whether they had engaged with anyone regarding the vacancies, and was told they had not.
On May 6, she checked Deputy Chief Justice Garwe’s official contact details in the human resources system and personnel file and discovered that the number used to contact her did not match any official records.
On May 7, Ziti reported the matter to Sekeni, who said he had also been contacted by the same number. An internal investigation was launched, which reportedly revealed that Rashai had impersonated the Deputy Chief Justice.
On May 8, Ziti escalated the matter to the deputy secretary, one Katsande, leading to a formal report and subsequent police action.
Detectives launched investigations and discovered that Rashai had previously applied for a vacancy at JSC, using his personal details, which assisted in tracing him.
He was later arrested in the Hurungwe area.
Police obtained a warrant of search and seizure requesting NetOne Zimbabwe to provide CID Harare with full subscriber details and call history for the number used in the alleged offence.
NetOne reportedly confirmed that the line was registered in Rashai’s name.