Magistrate Takes Leave to Work As Zanu Pf Advisor in Copac

SW Radio Africa (London)

Tichaona Sibanda

26 May 2011

A Harare based regional magistrate, Never Katiyo, has taken sabbatical leave from his Rotten Row court room to work as a ZANU PF technical advisor on the drafting of a new constitution.

He usually presides over his cases using court number 30 at the Rotten Row magistrates’ complex, but Katiyo took leave at the beginning of this month to sit on the Lands, Natural Resources and Empowerment thematic committee, where he represents the former ruling ZANU PF party.

The MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai accuse him of regularly denying MDC-T activists bail as they face the trumped-up charges against them.

It appears ZANU PF went to great lengths to try and hide his identity and involvement with the thematic committee, as his name does not appear on the list of officials working there.

But this is nothing new as the names of serving soldiers like the 3 Brigade commander in Mutare, Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, do not appear on the list released by Veritas on the 14th May. (Veritas is a watchdog that monitors Legal and Parliamentary affairs in Zimbabwe).

Nyikayaramba is the ‘technical advisor on elections and transitional mechanisms’ for ZANU PF in compiling data collected during the constitution outreach meetings.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us on Thursday that many other civil servants and soldiers, apart from Katiyo and Nyikayaramba, were part of COPAC’s thematic committees. By law civil servants are not allowed to take political sides, but this law has long been flouted by ZANU PF.

‘In the case of Katiyo, he was recently seen at COPAC joking with a former Ministry of Justice employee who is now representing the MDC-T, that he was working for a wrong party.

‘Although he seemed to be joking, others who saw it didn’t think it was ideal for him to declare his allegiance to ZANU PF because he has recently been presiding over Themba Mliswa’s case who is known to be a leading ZANU PF official. He cleared stated he was ZANU PF and the party still had absolute power in the inclusive government,’ Muchemwa said.

Contacted for comment Obert Gutu, the deputy Minister of Justice told us that as a judicial officer Katiyo shouldn’t involve himself in active politics.

‘He (Katiyo) is breaking every rule that one can imagine. Firstly he should not be allowed to earn his salary as a magistrate for the time that he is working as a ZANU PF employee at COPAC. Secondly, he should be promptly hauled before a Judicial Service Commission disciplinary hearing to answer charges of gross misconduct,’ Gutu said.

There are reports that the MDC-T is going to raise the issue in Parliament, about how the Ministry of Justice is going to deal with judicial officers who publicly align themselves with certain political parties.

In Masvingo last year, a magistrate with links to ZANU PF was suspended pending investigations, for suggesting that he would deal decisively with anyone who supports the MDC-T.

AllAfrica – All the Time