Full Text: Tinomudaishe Chinyoka denies assaulting fellow lawyer Brian Dube

My name is Tinomudaishe Chinyoka.

1. I am a legal practitioner practicing as an Advocate in Zimbabwe. Contrary to social media lies spread by MDC supporters, I was also admitted to practice law in England & Wales, and have never been banned from practicing law there. In fact, in order to get my practicing certificate in Zimbabwe upon my return to Zimbabwe in 2017, I applied for and was given a Certificate of Good Standing by the SRA/Law Society of England & Wales.

2. I did not assault Brian Dube. At all.

3. I could end this statement there, and it would still be 100% complete, but as I have come to realise, and as my first born son told me yesterday “From what I have seen in the press, once negative news gets out, it is distributed everywhere but once it is proved to have been false, not many people are interested in hearing that those allegations were false so will this be any different?” I wonder.

4. The allegations by Brian Dube are false and malicious to say the least.

5. What really happened is that while seated at the Bar (what lawyers call the front row seats where they sit in court) next to a Public Prosecutor, I chanced to see that the document she was reading had my name on it. On further enquiry I realised that it was the concluding paragraph of what purported to be a defence outline in a criminal case. The paragraph stated, in clear terms, that I had suborned perjury in the case.

6. As Brian Dube was sat next to the prosecutor, I said to him, while I was still sitting down: “Counsel, I know you are junior to me but as a partner in a law firm you are senior enough to know that before making such allegations against a senior colleague, or any professional colleague, you ought to contact them and say hey, I have received these instructions from my client, I would like to hear your view and give you an opportunity to reply as an officer of the court?”

7. Brian Dube replied, without looking at me: “Who are you? I don’t know you.”

8. This was false.
   1. I have met Brian Dube at Court, and we have talked.
   2. When I am in Gweru, Brian Dube and I go to the same church. In fact, on my first Sunday coming back from the diaspora, Brian Dube was giving a talk on the Bill of Rights, after which I was asked to stand up and be introduced to the whole church.
   3. I was a ZanuPF candidate in the primary elections for Gweru Urban. Brian Dube later won that seat against the person I lost to. As the only lawyer out of the 5 Zanu PF candidates, Brian Dube and his team assigned people to follow my progress in the primaries.
   4. I was part of the team that worked on the ConCourt challenge by his leader Nelson Chamisa. As a lawyer and politician with a keen interest in that petition, it is silly to think that Brian Dube would not know the lawyers on the other side.
   5. Brian Dube is a lawyer: he would not have made the allegations he did about me in his client’s defence outline without checking that such a person in fact did exist. Or at least no good lawyer would have, unless he now says he is not a good lawyer.

9. I however did not say all this to him. I simply laughed, and said “Okay, maybe you will get to know me in future”. At that moment I was thinking that in 2023, I will defeat him in the Parliamentary elections should he run again.

10. At this moment I left the Court. Outside I saw a senior lawyer in Gweru, and was laughing with him about what had happened, and I recall he even said “You haven’t seen the worst, these young people have become so bad that they can ask you for a postponement of a case, you agree and ask him to go and make the joint application in court, and you hear that in fact he went and asked for default judgement saying you were not there”.

11. About half an hour later, I then heard that Brian Dube had told the Court that I had assaulted and threatened him. I was shocked.

12. During lunch break, I saw Brian outside the Court with his colleague and another prosecutor. I had business with that prosecutor, so I went to them. During conversation, I said to Brian Dube: “Counsel, I am told that you have lied to the magistrate that I assaulted you, have our professional ethics sunk so low that you can go and lie to the Court? About a senior colleague?”

13. At this point his colleague said “You are a bad example of being a senior colleague and I don’t want to grow up and be like you”. I did not wish to be drawn into these insults, so I did not reply. I said to Brian Dube that if he had been assaulted surely he ought to have reported to the police. He replied that there was no need as the police were captured.

14. One of the MDC members nearby approached us and said “Zvokuvhundutsirana hapachina, we will retaliate”. To his credit, Brian Dube told that person to stop, saying there was no need for that and to leave.

15. After Court resumed, I was sat in court when a police constable came to whisper to me that I was wanted at Central Police station. I asked if I could be allowed to come after the hearing was over, and the policeman agreed and left. After an hour, the police returned, this time there were three of them.

16. I went to the police station and gave my statement. It was at the police station that I found out that the charge was Assault and Threats of Future Violence. There are two statements, one from Brian Dube and another from his colleague, one Jeremiah Bamu. Both statements are replete with mendacity and have no relationship with either truth or the facts.

17. Brian Dube then sent an email to the Law Society, but also took a screen grab of that email and circulated it all over social media. The intention is clear, it is to defame me.

18. I have taken the following steps:
    1. I have written to the Law Society, as I should in terms of the By-laws, informing the Council that I have been charged with an offence,
    2. I have written a complaint to the Law Society, asking them to investigate and confirm that they did not leak Brian Dube’s email (but I firmly believe that he in fact leaked it himself),
    3. I have instructed my lawyers to file a defamation claim against Brian Dube. That will be filed on 20 February 2019, after Brian Dube missed my deadline to retract his lies.

19. That, is the truth.        

Tinomudaishe Chinyoka