A FORMER Kwekwe resident magistrate and his Clerk of Court have been sentenced to a combined 24 months in prison after they were convicted of abuse of office.
Story Rushambwa (48), a former resident magistrate at
Kwekwe magistrates court was arrested together with the Clerk of Court Bright
Mpiyabo (45).
The pair appeared before Harare regional magistrate, Mr
Taurai Manwere, who was presiding over the matter at the Gweru magistrates
court. Mr Manwere sentenced Rushambwa to 15 months in prison and Mpiyabo to
nine months.
Rushambwa and Mpiyabo pleaded not guilty but were convicted
due to overwhelming evidence.
The two accused who facilitated the release of a stolen
vehicle to controversial businessman Mr Shepherd Tundiya, were found guilty of
abuse of office.
Rushambwa was dismissed from work by the Judicial Service
Commission (JSC) following a disciplinary hearing on June 1 last year.
It was the State
case that sometime in October 2019, a Toyota Hilux vehicle was impounded by the
police from John Mapurazi, a miner in Kwekwe.
The vehicle was taken as an exhibit after it was
fraudulently imported into the country. Prosecutors said the vehicle was handed
over to Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) for customs management.
The court proved that on December 27, 2019, Mapurazi made
an ex parte application seeking the release of the vehicle. Rushambwa and
Mpiyabo, the court heard hatched a plan to order the release of the motor vehicle
to Mapurazi.
Mpiyabo deliberately withheld the record so that the matter
could be presided over by Rushambwa despite the fact that Rushambwa was on
leave.
The court proved that Mpiyabo then placed the record before
Rushambwa well knowing he was on leave. Rushambwa presided over the application
in the absence of Mapurazi who was now being represented by Tundiya who is not
a legal practitioner.
The magistrate went on to grant the order for the release
of the motor vehicle to Mapurazi showing favour to him. The former officer-in-charge
of CID Gweru, Detective Inspector Leonard Gwandu was last year sentenced to
three years in jail for the same case.
Meanwhile, Gokwe Provincial magistrate, Mr Musaiwona
Shotgame has been suspended to pave way for investigations into allegations of
incompetence and misconduct levelled against him.
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) suspended Mr
Shotgame for three months for allegedly flouting laid down court procedures and
failure to competently discharge judicial function in a case of territorial
boundary involving Chief Masuka and Chief Mutendi of Gokwe.
According to a suspension letter a copy of which is in the
possession of the Chronicle and signed by Acting JSC Secretary, Mr
Sithembinkosi Msipa on July 14, Mr Shotgame was suspended with effect from July
14, 2022 and will be entitled to half his gross salary per month until October
15.
Mr Shotgame reportedly committed acts of misconduct by
summoning Chief Masuka to court via WhatsApp and later failing to treat the
matter as an urgent matter.
“It has come to my attention that you may have committed
acts of misconduct in that you received a complaint from Chief Mutendi who had
been involved in an issue of territorial jurisdiction with Chief Masuka,
particularly in the matter involving Graciano Shava,” read part of the letter.
The two chiefs have been involved in a longstanding battle
whereupon Chief Mutendi was complaining that Chief Masuka had dealt with an
issue that fell under his jurisdiction involving Shava and that he had handed
down an incompetent judgment.
Pursuant to the complaint by Chief Mutendi, Mr Shotgame
summoned Chief Masuka to court with a view of purportedly exercising his
reviewing powers in Terms of Section 25 of the Customary Law and Local
Government Act.
“It is further alleged that after concluding that the issue
of territorial boundaries of the chief’s was reviewable, you unilaterally
summoned Chief Masuka to court by way of a WhatsApp Message and thus not
following the laid down procedures of the serving process,” reads the letter.
Further allegations are that Mr Shotgame called the parties
unprocedural on the basis of urgency and did not determine the matter up to
date yet urgent matters by their nature demand that they be heard and their
decisions made on urgent basis.
“You failed to competently discharge your judicial function by reserving a judgment in an urgent matter for a period of close to two months. Based on the above, as a disciplinary authority, do hereby suspend you from service with effect from July 2022,” said Mr Msipa. — Midlands Bureau Chief, Michael Magoronga. Chronicle
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