GOVERNMENT does not pay the attorneys and prosecutors who form the controversial anti-corruption unit of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said on the weekend.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA
Ziyambi told NewsDay on the fringes of the funeral of the national heroine Thokozile Mathuthu who had said the resignation of Officer General Ray Goba that he had to deal with capacity problems, forcing Mnangagwa to set up the unit that, according to commentators, is illegal.
When asked if Mnangagwa ran an illegal parallel prosecution service in his office, Ziyambi quickly defended Zanu PF's leader.
"We have one National Public Prosecutor (NPA) and we have a special anti-corruption unit within the president's office, manned by experienced former prosecutors," Ziyambi said.
"At that time we had an attorney general [Goba] Who had indicated that he was overwhelmed and there was quarrel that there was lethargy in prosecuting corruption, that we did not persecute ourselves and corruption, especially in high places. & # 39;
But the opposition NCA leader and Zimbabwean constitutional law teacher Lovemore Madhuku argued that Mnangagwa had to dissolve the unit because it was "illegal."
"The unity is unconstitutional, that's not how a state is governed.If they had a problem with the attorney general, they should have simply removed him as they had done with Goba, not to turn to parallel structures that compete with established state institutions, "he said. "Better still, the government must provide sufficient resources to the NPA than to create a quasi-state institution, they have to dissolve it."
Ziyambi said, however, that the Mnangagwa cracking unit, led by the experienced prosecutor Thabani Mpofu, strengthened the NPA instead of competing.
"They simply help the police and other state organs with the completion of the dockworks and once they have been completed, it is up to the NPA to provide proof of persecution." The idea was to conduct cases of high-profile people who were arrested, to come to bail and to deal with the next thing, the defense when applying for the refusal of pre-trial detention because the docks were not ready, the next thing we hear is that the case is dead, "the Justice Minister said.
"This unit has no prosecuting powers, it was a way to strengthen the NPA's ability to sue, and there are clear roles that are there without appropriating the NPA's powers by the unit."
Ziyambi also denied that the formation of the unit was a vote of no confidence in the anti-corruption committee of Zimbabwe, adding that the unit consisted of volunteers.
"It is not and by the way, these prosecutors are volunteering, they are not paid, but they have said they are patriotic Zimbabweans who want to help their country in the fight against corruption," he said.
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