Online Reporter
Lovemore Kadzura
Post Reporter
TWO Chipinge-based police officers who solicited and received a bribe from a suspect’s mother to secure his release were convicted and jailed, and their attempt to seek review of the internal disciplinary process was dismissed by the High Court.
Talent Lazarus Tausen, a sergeant, and Edwin Dewa, a constable, were convicted through internal proceedings instituted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police and sentenced to 14 days in detention at Chikurubi Maximum Prison for accepting a US$370 bribe from Alice Chikumba.
Chikumba is the mother of Sydney Muchongoyo, who was arrested for stealing a bag from an Inter Africa bus.
They also badly assaulted him.
Despite receiving the bribe, the two officers did not secure Muchongoyo’s release, prompting his mother to report them to their superiors. They were charged and convicted of the offence through internal processes.
They appealed the outcome and their superiors dismissed the appeal.
The officers approached the Mutare High Court seeking a stay of execution pending determination of the review of the sentence.
The duo argued that once the sentence has been executed, they will suffer irreparable harm as the sentence of detention will not be undone if their application for review is to succeed.
They also argued that the witnesses relied upon by the ZRP had vested interests.
The ZRP, represented by the Attorney General’s Civil Division, argued that there was no valid application for review before the court as the application was filed out of time.
The AG further argued that the purported grounds of review were actually grounds of appeal and that the application for review lacked merit, was meant to buy time and should be dismissed.
High Court Judge, Honourable Justice Sijabuliso Siziba found merit in the ZRP’s argument, and ruled that the application for review by the applicants was defective and out of time under High Court rules.
“The present application for stay of execution by the applicants has no legs to stand as it is anchored upon a fatally defective application that can never ever succeed. The purported application for review has no grounds of review and no relief sought on the face of it in flagrant violation of High Court rules.
“The application for review which lies at the foundation of this urgent application is invalid because it is out of time and no condonation was sought. The grounds of review advanced by the applicants mainly attacked the trial proceedings that were terminated on January 13 2026. This is being done after the expiry of more than 20 weeks of the termination of such proceedings rules mandates that a review be filed within eight weeks of termination of proceedings which are the subject of the review,” ruled Justice Siziba.
