VICE-PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has come to the defence of under-fire Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana saying he cannot be fired over utterances wrongly attributed to him.
by VENERANDA LANGA
Mnangagwa made the remarks in Parliament on Wednesday after MPs demanded that Tomana be relieved of his duties after he was quoted in the State media suggesting that girls under the age of 12 could consent to sex.
“Tomana himself clarified the issue where he said he was misquoted by the media and so we cannot say he committed a crime,” Mnangagwa said.
“We do not have to believe everything in newspapers because one day, they will say that you killed your own mother, and would you want us to believe that?”
Tomana’s job is currently on the knife-edge with child rights defenders and politicians calling for his resignation.
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On Wednesday, First Lady Grace Mugabe piled pressure on Tomana to resign, describing him as a paedophile.
Meanwhile, Senators yesterday called for stiffer sentences to be imposed on rapists and men who got married to underage girls. During a question-and-answer session, Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora also defended his policy of allowing use of cellphones by schoolchildren.