Court quashes Manase ban

Daniel Nemukuyu : Senior Court Reporter

The Administrative Court have quashed a four-year ban imposed on former Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Wilson Manase after finding fault with the proceedings that led to his punishment. The Sports and Recreation Commission last year banned Manase from participating in sports administration for four years because the ZC national team had travelled to Pakistan without the Commission’s approval.According to the court papers, ZC were charged and convicted of the offence and Manase, by virtue of being the ZC chairman then, was slapped with a four-year sports administration ban.

Manase appealed to the Administrative Court arguing that the disciplinary committee erred in imposing a ban on him for unilaterally sanctioning Zimbabwe Cricket’s tour to Pakistan in May when he was never charged of the offence.

In a judgment availed yesterday, Administrative Court judge Justice Herbert Mandeya ruled that SRC erred in sentencing Manase.

“The sentence was passed against the appellant without having invited him to make any representation.

“Indeed, counsel for the respondent conceded that the respondent erred in this regard…

“Every person has a right to be heard or afforded a chance to make representations before any decision that may affect his rights, interests or legitimate expectations is made,” ruled Justice Mandeya.

The judge said remitting the case back to the same board for fresh hearing would not be fair because the board will not depart from its earlier decision.

“The difficulty with adopting that approach is that the board which passed the sentence is unlikely to contradict itself.

“In this case, remitting the matter back to the respondent is unlikely to yield a different penalty to the one imposed on appellant,” he said.

Justice Mandeya called for the amendment of the law to avoid a situation whereby SRC which runs the activities is the prosecutor and judge in its own case.

“In future the law should be amended to prevent a scenario where the board that runs an activity prosecutes erring individuals and also punishes those individuals with no room for outsiders to step in and administer justice,” he said.

After the judgment, Manase was all smiles saying he was now free to participate in the administration of sports in Zimbabwe.

“I am happy that the court has cleared me. I am now free to contest for sports administration positions with any organisations, including Zimbabwe Cricket,” he said.

Manase, in his appeal, argued that the charge was preferred against Zimbabwe Cricket and he was never a party to the proceedings neither was he charged for contravening Section 28 of the Sports and Recreation Commission (General) Regulations Statutory Instrument 342 of 1995 as read with Sections 19(d) and 30(1) of the SRC Act.

Manase argued that the decision to tour Pakistan was not an individual one as found by the disciplinary committee but a board resolution, which was never overturned.

The disciplinary committee, Manase argued, erred in allowing SRC members to participate in the hearing when the commission was an aggrieved party.

To that end, Manase said his right to administrative justice was violated.

The chairperson acted as a judge in her own case in violation of the rules of natural justice, argued Manase.

The disciplinary committee, according to the appeal papers, punished the wrong person.