Corruption charges resurface to haunt Mujuru ally
By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |
Police on Friday arrested Johannes Tomana, the prosecutor general for, among other things, ordering the closure of a case in which Bright Matonga, former Information deputy minister and now a top member at Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF), was facing corruption charges.
Matonga faced the charges in 2008 when he was the chief executive officer at the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO), a government transport utility.
Under unclear circumstances, Tomana directed the chief law officer to drop charges against Matonga, whose docket also went missing.
The re-emergence of the case is seen as a blow to ZimPF, a party led by Joice Mujuru who was removed as President Robert Mugabe’s deputy at the Zanu PF congress in December 2014 and subsequently fired from the party in early 2015.
Mujuru has repeatedly rapped Zanu PF for corruption and poor governance by the Mugabe government.
Police spokesperson, Charity Charamba, confirmed Tomana’s arrest, a day after Mugabe suspended him for alleged abuse of office.
She said police had charged him for various questionable decisions he made as the prosecutor general, among them dropping charges against Matonga and Charles Nherera, who was the ZUPCO board chair then.
Nherera, a former vice chancellor at the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), is now employed by the Women’s University in Africa (WUA).
At the height of the land redistribution programme that started in 2000 and displaced some 6,000 commercial white farmers, Matonga grabbed a lucrative oranges farm from Thomas Beattie, but the sprawling plot is now run down.
At the same time, a group of anti-government protestors who were arrested on Wednesday were arraigned before the courts on allegations of public violence.
The prosecutor general was arrested by officers from the Law and Order Section.
Before his arrest, magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe had recused himself in a matter in which the suspended prosecutor general is being accused of criminally abusing his office when he released suspects, who allegedly plotted to bomb Gushungo Dairies, a multi-million dollar business venture owned by President Robert Mugabe’s family.
Tomana’s attorney, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, confirmed the magistrate’s recusal and his client’s subsequent arrest.
At the time of going to air, Mpofu was still attending to Tomana at the Harare Central Police Station and could not confirm the fresh charges the police have preferred against the suspended prosecutor general.
Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said she was yet to be briefed on the latest development.
Meanwhile, 24 anti-government protestors, who were arrested in Harare’s Marimba and Mufakose high density suburbs during the national job stay-away held on Wednesday, were arraigned before a Mbare magistrate facing charges of public violence. They were ordered to return to court for the determination of their bail application.
At the same time, magistrate Chikwekwe granted bail to 104 protestors facing public violence charges who were arrested in Mabvuku and Epworth while demonstrating against increased police road-blocks. Among them are four minor children who were released into the custody of their parents.
One of the defense lawyers, Obey Shava, confirmed this development.
Shava said even though his clients were granted bail, they cannot raise a total of $10,000 that is required before they are released.
In a related development, social media is awash with messages calling for a march to State House tomorrow. Police are still maintaining a heavy presence in the capital following Wednesday’s nationwide stay-away.
The arrest of Tomana could bring back the corruption cases against Nherera and Matonga, who has since sought spiritual refuge at the UFIC Pentecostal church led by Emmanuel Makandiwa.
“I confirm that he (Tomana) has been arrested for abuse of office as a public officer, or alternatively, defeating the course of justice. This emanates from various decisions and instructions that he would have given to the principal law officers, among other things,” Charamba said.
“There are so many cases where he gave instructions to the principal law officer, either to decline to prosecute, or take a certain direction, for example, when he instructed that the State drops charges against Bright Matonga. In summary, it is abuse of office as a public official or obstruction of justice,” she said.
Mugabe set up a tribunal to investigate Tomana, who is also being accused of directly ordering the release of two men accused of attempting to bomb the Alpha and Omega dairy farm owned by Mugabe’s family. Nehanda Radio
