daniel chigunwe
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
THE National Prosecuting Authority yesterday called the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (ZACC) to order, saying the anti-graft body should respect the constitutional independence of Government arms.
The NPA said ZACC should utilise dispute resolution platforms should there be differences on an issue.
The rebuke, directed at ZACC, followed a statement issued by the Commission expressing concern on why the NPA withdrew fraud charges against Harare City Council Town Clerk Hosiah Chisango and four others over a US$9 million street lights tender.
ZACC chairperson, Mr Michael Reza, issued a statement saying his organisation felt that the five were criminally liable and should have defended their actions in court.
This was after NPA withdrew charges against Chisango (Town Clerk), Never Murerwa Supply Chain Manager), Denford Zhungu (Principal Accountant), Tawanda Mutenhabundo (Engineering Technician), and Artkins Mandaza (Principal Contracts Administrator) over a US$9 million street lights tender.
Only Harare City Council Principal Buyer, Jabulani Mukomazi, was indicted and is expected to face the charges.
“ZACC respects the position taken by the NPA and acknowledges that it is the mandate of the prosecuting authority to institute and manage criminal prosecutions in Zimbabwe. The Commission however, maintains that the accused persons are criminally liable for the fraudulent awarding of the tender and should defend their actions in court. Accordingly, ZACC is looking into the matter and will be preferring new charges against the five accused persons,” reads a statement from ZACC.
But in an interview yesterday, Prosecutor General, Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, described the statement as pre-emptive and premature given that they had a scheduled meeting to discuss the case on Tuesday.
She said ZACC had failed to utilise an inter-agency platform comprising ZACC, the Zimbabwe Republic Police and NPA that meets to resolve any differences.
“In this particular matter, I have not personally had the opportunity of going through the docket. I had requested a meeting yesterday with the ZACC chairperson and his team, myself and my team so that they bring the docket, we try to iron out the differences between the Prosecutor and the Investigating officers. Before that could be done, I was shocked to find a statement circulating in the media. I do not believe in solving issues through the media and we are still waiting for the meeting with ZACC to resolve our issues,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.
She said they had a platform, an interagency committee where ZACC is a member and they had agreed on how to resolve their differences.
“We resolve our differences amicably alive to the fact that we are a team and if we break this teamwork, it means the beneficiaries will be the corrupt and the criminals. So I take the issue of collaboration and amicable resolution of disputes seriously because at the end of the day I want to see matters going to trial and that can only happen with the assistance of our stakeholders, ZACC and the police,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.
“So far our relationship has been good and I want to believe it is still good. As the NPA we have not been offended by the statement, but we believe it’s simply a question of being open, our prosecutor justifying the decision to the investigating officers and the investigating officer must respect the decision taken by the prosecutors, if there is no corruption involved. We have a zero tolerance to corruption, our decisions are based on professional reasons.”
Justice Matanda-Moyo said ZACC and the NPA had a common goal of eradicating corruption in the country.
She said the two arms must remain dedicated and available for any consultation with all stakeholders that include the police and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Financial Intelligence Unit, among others. “These different agencies operate independently but for us as NPA, ours is collaborative independence and not isolated independence. These agencies still remain with their discretion on how to proceed with regard to certain matters.
“While the PG has got the powers in terms of the Constitution to order an investigation, the PG cannot prescribe how such investigations can be conducted, that is the prerogative of ZACC. Equally the NPA has the prerogative and discretion of determining which matters to prosecute in the interest of justice and in so doing we are only guided by evidence on the docket,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.
She said she directed prosecutors to be responsible for drafting charges on a docket and not take a case to court based on charges drafted by someone else.
“We used to have problems where prosecutors were taking matters into court with charges drafted by investigative authorities and then such charges turned out to be improper charges and they wanted to point a finger at investigative agencies but I said no, the function of drafting charges is the function of the prosecutor. It is the prosecutor who must be satisfied that they have got a case with adequate evidence which they can take into court and secure a conviction. They can never take a matter into court based on any other person’s opinion,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.
“I have emphasised on the need to be professional and we take pride in that we are an NPA which is transparent. So I am still waiting for that meeting with ZACC, perhaps it will take place tomorrow, so that press release is pre-emptive and premature if you ask me”.
Online Reporter