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Chief Justice Chidyausiku

Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Reporter
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku has blasted the Attorney General’s Office for sending inexperienced officers to the Constitutional Court, a decision he said would result in the State losing many cases unnecessarily. This was after law officer Ms Chenai Garise Nheta was visibly struggling to defend the case in which a Zimbabwe National Army captain was suing the Defence Minister, Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the President of the General Court Martial and the director of Military Prosecution in the Constitutional Court yesterday.
Captain Alfred Mugadza was suspended and dismissed from the force over an offence allegedly committed in 2004 and he was arrested in May this year, nine years down the line.

He was accused of stealing bags of cement and absenting himself from duty without leave for 185 days.
Capt Mugadza argued that a delay by the ZDF in prosecuting the case was inordinate and that his prosecution should be stayed permanently.

Through his lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu, Capt Mugadza argued that he was never summoned to appear in a court martial over the years and that there was no proof that ZDF looked for him over the                      years.

He argued that it was unconstitutional for him to be tried nine years after the alleged commission of the offence for no good reason.
Ms Garise Nheta invited the wrath of the nine-member bench when she sought to postpone the case citing unpreparedness after Adv Mpofu had finished arguing Capt Mugadza’s case.

She gave an excuse that the papers were prepared by the ZDF officers and that she received them late but the Chief Justice was quick to quash the point.

“That is not an excuse, it is your case. If you did not prepare the papers correctly you should not have come here.
“You were supposed to seek a postponement to put your house in order before the other party argued his case,” he said.

“When we sit here as a court we want to deliver justice, to determine who is right. You have to present your case to the best of your ability to assist the court in achieving justice. If you handle the case the way you are handling this one, we will not achieve justice at all.

“Your superiors should not send you to the Constitutional Court when you do not know the basics because you will end up losing cases,” he said.

Justice Ben Hlatshwayo chipped in grilling the law officer accusing her of trying to give evidence from the bar.
The law officer tried to produce some radio communication documents as proof that ZDF had communicated to all its provincial offices looking for the captain, which the judge said was not permissible at law.

It was the court’s position that the documents should have been filed properly and not to ambush the court with new papers from the bar.
The court, however, reserved judgment in the constitutional case after hearing the arguments from both parties.