Goba confirmed his suspension to the Daily News yesterday, while declining to comment further. “Yes, I have been suspended,” he would only say.
But sources said he was facing a slew of allegations, ranging from his alleged failure to prosecute high profile corruption cases to allegedly using abusive language and entering Namibia despite being a prohibited immigrant there.
The sources also claimed that the complainant in the matter was Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi — whose wife Florence, is said to have had several run-ins with Goba.
Florence, who is Goba’s deputy, was in March shunted to the Office of the President and Cabinet, where she now works from as a government lawyer.
One of the sources told the Daily News that the secretary for the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), Walter Chikwanha, had allegedly written to Ziyambi regarding the probe — with the matter later being escalated to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who formally instituted the investigation.
This was after the Justice ministry had apparently decided that there were “sufficient grounds” for a preliminary investigation.
There are several sanctions that Goba could face if he is found guilty of the allegations he is facing, and this includes warnings and his total removal from office — depending on the circumstances.
Section (259) (7) of the Constitution says the PG can only be removed from office by a tribunal, after a judicial inquiry.
Goba was last year fired from office by former president Robert Mugabe, who rescinded his earlier appointment to the substantive post of PG via a shocking extraordinary gazette which was signed by the chief secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda — who ironically had earlier issued the previous gazette confirming his appointment.
Goba was viewed as sympathetic to Mnangagwa at the time, who previously held the dual roles of VP and Justice minister — before his powers were initially whittled down by Mugabe in a Cabinet reshuffle before being fired later from both the government and Zanu PF in late 2017.
Goba had been appointed to the position by Mugabe, after serving a year in the job on an interim basis — following the suspension and subsequent sacking of his predecessor Johannes Tomana.
Goba retained his position when Mnangagwa assumed the reins of government, following the fall of Mugabe from power in November last year.
This followed a military intervention code-named Operation Restore Legacy, which saw the nonagenarian and his much-disliked wife Grace being placed under house arrest.
The curtain fell on Mugabe on November 21, when he resigned moments before Parliament had put in motion the process to impeach him. Daily News.
