Tribunal to table Tomana report before President Mr Tomana
Mr Tomana

Mr Tomana

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
A three-member tribunal set to probe Mr Johannes Tomana’s suitability to continue as Prosecutor-General is set to present its findings to President Mugabe soon after completing its investigations recently.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Mrs Virginia Mabhiza told The Herald that the leader of the probe team, Justice Moses Chinhengo, travelled to Lesotho soon after completing the probe.

She said an appointment with President Mugabe would be sought upon Justice Chinhengo’s return, to present the report.

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Other members of the tribunal are University of Zimbabwe lecturer Mr Emmanuel Magade and lawyer Ms Melania Matshiya.

T“The probe is complete and we are waiting for Justice Chinhengo to return from Lesotho where he is presiding over some cases,” she said.

“Once he returns, an appointment will be secured to brief the President on their findings but otherwise everything is now place for the Tomana report to be tabled before the President.”

The tribunal inquired on several matters involving Mr Tomana’s conduct.

The first one relates to court orders issued by the High Court and Supreme Court in cases pitting Francis Maramwidze versus Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

The other cases involve Telecel Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd versus Attorney-General; and Professor Charles Muchemwa Nherera versus Jayesh Shah.

In Maramwidze’s case, Mr Tomana was accused of refusing or failing to issue him with a certificate for private prosecution as ordered by the High Court on May 14, 2014. He faced the same charge in the Telecel Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd case after he was ordered to issue a certificate by the Supreme Court within five days on January 8, 2014.

The tribunal also investigated whether Mr Tomana was not only in contempt of court, but also in violation of the Oath of Office and the Constitution by refusing or failing to obey the court orders.

It is understood that the tribunal also sought to establish whether or not Mr Tomana’s conduct was inappropriate and an abuse of office with regards to persons who were his clients prior to his appointment as Prosecutor-General.

Through his office or officers he authorised, Mr Tomana was accused of refusing to support the conviction on appeal of Prof Nherera, who was his former client.

Mr Tomana was further accused of withdrawing charges of contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 9:6) against Mr Bright Matonga, another of his former clients, citing unavailability of witnesses, which was not the case.

Mr Tomana was also accused of refusing to prosecute Mr Matonga on charges of culpable homicide, citing untenable reasons at law.

In another charge, the tribunal wanted to establish whether or not Mr Tomana was in abuse of office by stopping the trial of Beauty Basile, who was charged with several counts of contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 9:23) and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23).

The circumstances surrounding the termination of the trial are being viewed as unwarranted and against the weight of evidence against Basile.

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