Advocate Tomana declared National Hero

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has conferred National Hero status to Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who passed away last Sunday after a short illness.

Ambassador Tomana, who was the country’s first Prosecutor General, died after visiting his rural home in Honde Valley, Manicaland Province. He was 56.

In statement it was announced the conferement was n recognition of Amb Tomana’s outstanding contribution to the nation.

“His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, today announced the conferment of National Hero Status on the late Advocate Johannes Tomana, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who passed away on 6 August, 2023 after a short illness.

“The recognition and honour followed the late Ambassador Tomana’s outstanding contribution to our nation, and distinguished career as a skilled legal practitioner, Deputy Attorney-General (2006), Attorney-General (2008) and as the country’s first Prosecutor-General under the New Constitution from November 2013,” reads the statement.

“In those multiple roles, Ambassador Tomana played a critical role in shaping the country’s legal ethos and the prosecutorial system. The redeployment in 2020 as the Second Republic’s Ambassador to the DRC saw him advance Zimbabwe’s Engagement Policy with singleness of purpose,” continues the statement.

Born on September  9, 1967, Amb Tomana was a lawyer by training and distinguished himself in private practice.

In 2005, he was appointed to be one of the commissioners of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, one of the independent constitutional bodies established to fight graft.

He was later appointed Attorney General in 2008, where he performed the dual role of leading the prosecution department and Government advisory role.

The two were later split under the new Constitution that came into effect in 2013, where Amb Tomana became the country’s first Prosecutor General.

In 2010, Amb Tomana’s role in Government saw him included on the United States’ illegal sanctions list, which targeted senior Government and Zanu PF officials.

In 2011, as the Attorney-General he launched a court challenge with the European Union Court of Justice against sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

Amb Tomana was appointed into diplomatic service in September 2020, when he assumed the post of Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the DRC, a position he held until his untimely death.