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Harare lawyer bursts over letter
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
August 31, 2006

Takunda Tivaone, the lawyer representing the City of Harare in the ongoing inquiry into the suspension case of Harare Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya today left Rowan Martin Building with egg on his face after one of the witnesses wrote a letter to a city team accusing them of unethical practices in the gathering of evidence against the suspended town clerk.

Chideya was suspended on 28 June 2006.

In a letter dated 31 August addressed to Victor Kaponda, the head of the team investigating Chideya at Town House, the witness, James Chiyangwa, the City’s Acting Director of Housing and Community Services, declined to be a witness ‘if later on he will be charged with perjury’.

The letter is titled ‘Investigations into Mr Chideya’. In the letter Chiyangwa said, "I refer to our telephone conversation of yesterday 30 August 2006 and I now wish to state the following;

"I told you that whilst l seriously appreciate the investigations done in my department, I deserve to see the final charge sheet if I am going to be a credible witness. Until this morning, I am still to see the statements submitted by my juniors Mr Mupambirei and Mrs Fologwe to verify their authenticity. This is more so because in your last submission you had included names of beneficiaries whose source was not Mr Chideya.

"I phoned yesterday because I had been shocked when my officer Mr Pindura came to tell me that you were using unethical means to fast track your name into getting an alternative stand. I understand that this was part of your investigations. You therefore cannot use your position as chairman of the investigations to also circumvent the law by threatening my junior officers. You did this behind my back and it completely erodes any trust in me for you as your witness."

The ruling is expected tomorrow at 10am at Rowan Martin Building, fifth floor.

The chairperson of the commission running the affairs of Harare Sekesai Makwavarara has set up a parallel team to investigate the allegations of incompetence against Chideya, bringing a new dimension to the matter, which has a bearing on the future of the commission. Other members of the ‘probe team are Percy Toriro, a Mr Katsonga, a Mr Manyere and Kaponda.

But when Chideya’s lawyer Sternford Moyo of Scanlen and Holderness submitted the letter before the investigating team led by Harare magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe, Tivaone disowned the parallel process saying it was non-existent.

When pressed to explain how the committee came into being when the Minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo has already tasked Guvamombe to inquire into allegations of incompetence against Chideya, Tivaone said the investigating team was only assisting him ‘to gather evidence against Chideya’.

Moyo charged that the mere existence of a parallel process to investigate the same matter that Guvamombe was investigating brought the whole investigation into question considering that the relationship of the parallel committee with the official probe team was unclear.

In his defence outline, Moyo said Makwavarara lacked the mandate to suspend Chideya, as she is neither the Acting Mayor nor the Deputy Mayor, making it impossible for her to carry out the powers of a mayor.

"Her term as councillor expired and the sole source of her authority is appointment as a commissioner," he said. "Consequently, although in this outline reference will be made to the powers of a Mayor, the primary position taken by the Town Clerk is that Ms Makwavarara had no authority to suspend him. The usurpation of the Mayor’s statutory powers was, consequently unlawful. The suspension was unlawful."

The defence team insists that the investigating team is unlawful, as it was constituted by an illegal entity, the Harare Commission, whose term has been unlawfully renewed on four occasions.

Tivaone argued that the commission was legal as it was re-appointed by the Minister in terms of the Act. He said previous court rulings were made under different circumstances from what Chideya’s case provided. He said there was NO ELECTIONS SET FOR Harare.

Moyo said elections were overdue in Harare. The mere principle of re-appointing commission was ruled illegal by the High Court Judge Justice Rita Makarau and Supreme Court judge Justice Wilson Sandura.

He said Tivaone’s submissions before the committee were absurd, shocking and lacked legal basis.

CHRA maintains that the Harare Commission is illegal and the authorities must immediately organise for the holding of mayoral and council elections as a matter of urgency.

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