The Supreme Court has rejected former Vice President Velekizela Mvoko’s application, accused of criminal abuse of office, for review against a judge’s decision to reject his dismissal application at the conclusion of the state’s case.
Mvoko was arrested a few months after the November 2017 coup that removed the late former president Robert Mugabe from power.
He was accused of storming a local police station to demand the release of two Zimbabwe National Roads Administration officials, Musa Juma and Davison Nurubire, who had been arrested by police on corruption charges.
High Court judges Benjamin Chikweru and Bisirae Kwenda rejected Mvoko’s application and ordered his case to go to trial.
Mvoko had submitted a request for reconsideration of Judge Tranus Otawashi, who refused to dismiss him when the state’s case concluded.
He faces criminal abuse of duty as a public servant and an alternative charge of defeating or perverting the course of justice.
In their ruling, Justices Chikweru and Kwenda said there were no exceptional circumstances that justified the Supreme Court’s intervention in the unfinished proceedings pending before the court of first instance.
According to court papers, on July 13, 2016, Mvoko intentionally acted inconsistently with or in conflict with his duties as a public servant for the purpose of showing favoritism to Juma and Noroobiri by appearing at Avondale Police Station where he ordered the release of the duo from police custody. .
In his defence, Mvoko said that when he asked the police to release Juma and Noroobiri, he was carrying out an order issued by the late former president Robert Mugabe based on top state secrets, believing that harm would befall Juma and Noroobiri if they spent the night in police cells. .
Mvoko denied that he had violated any law, saying all he did was carry out an order issued by the late President Mugabe as soon as a request was made to release the duo from police custody.
He also told the court that following the request, the police as per their protocol released the duo.
However, in his decision rejecting Mvoko’s dismissal, Justice Otawashi said that as a matter of law the deputy president may not interfere with the police in their work.
The judge said that presenting himself at Avondale police station before an inspector of the lowest rank in the force requesting Juma’s release constituted engaging in conduct inconsistent with the duties of a deputy chief.
The judge also ruled that Mvoko must explain his conduct in the defense case, saying his admission was that he had asked for Juma to be released from custody.
Judge Otawashi had ruled that Mvoko was there intentionally and acted intentionally in the act or omission.
Was the release achieved after the accused intervened by requesting the release of Musa Jumaa at the Avondale Police Station? The answer was affirmative. No, Zack [Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission] The ZRP detained the two suspects to appear in court the next day. Otawashi said in his ruling that it was the defendant’s request that led to the release of the two suspects.
However, the Supreme Court judges said that when invoking the law relating to the intervention of a superior court in the course of unfinished proceedings pending before a lower court, there must be rare or exceptional circumstances requiring the court’s intervention, circumstances which cannot be postponed until the conclusion of the trial. The trial is completed.
Mvoko also stated his reasons for review against the lower court ruling, saying Justice Otawashi made the ruling without reference to the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Newsday
