President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been handed a damning dossier on rampant corruption at the top echelons of the judicial arm of government involving high ranking state officials who have become filthy rich overnight.
Questions sent to Presidential spokesperson George Charamba were not responded to by the time of going to print.
However,
impeccable sources told Zim Morning Post that Mnangagwa had been handed
the file which implicates senior members of the Judicial Service
Commission.
Chief Justice Justice Malaba is on record condemning the “terrible scourge called corruption” insisting as the “judiciary, we maintain our stance that cases of corruption must be dealt with decisively by the courts.”
“I want to make it clear to all and sundry, whether you are a lawyer, judge or magistrate that it is our duty to deal decisively with cases of corruption,’’ he declared during the commissioning of three new courtrooms at the Bulawayo High Court in October last year.
“We have, on our part, embarked on a programme of continuous judicial education and training to inculcate into judicial officers the necessary values for fighting corruption,” he added.
However, JSC insiders said while Malaba has taken every opportunity during public appearances to castigate corruption, the vice is deeply entrenched in his own department.
Zim Morning Post is in possession of a document which details corrupt activities at JSC.
“It is actually more pronounced right at his door step with his most trusted senior managers and the secretariat deeply embroiled,” reads part of the dossier said to have been handed to Mnangagwa.
“Private investigations will confirm that corruption is rife
at the top echelons of the JSC involving high-ranking state officials who have
become filthy rich overnight as shall be more fully discussed below. The
members of the JSC secretariat comprises of very powerful and influential
individuals.
“Their word is law such that no subordinate member of the commission dares to challenge even some of their unlawful instructions. If you refuse to comply, they can demote you, transfer you to the remotest part of the country or even create spurious allegations against you and then constitute a Kangaroro Disciplinary Tribunal that superintends over your exit.”
Among those said to be involved in a well-coordinated and intricate teamwork of corrupt activities, according to the dossier, “is Mr Guvamombe the Chief Magistrate, Mr Chikwana the Acting Secretary and his Deputy Mr Mutevedzi which backdates to 2013.”
“The cases of corruption include instructing to finalize matters in a particular or preferred way, nepotism in the employment of staff, hiring own companies or colleagues companies to conduct auctioneering services for the Sherriff and sexual abuse of female staffers in return for lucrative appointments.
“In other instances some shelf companies are awarded contracts say to refurbish courtrooms under unclear circumstances,” said another source who declined to be named fearing reprisal.
“One thing for sure is that the Chief Justice knows that the Chief Magistrate is very corrupt because at least he has said it in public in his meetings with magistrates.”
Other members of the JSC who spoke to Zim Morning Post said Chief Justice Malaba had on several occasions admonished Guvamombe “to stop the habit of phoning magistrates instructing them to finalize matters in a particular way and to stop demanding bribes from litigants.”
There was a consensus among stakeholders that there is need to do an inquiry on the subject matter on all provincial stations.
“They say a fish rots from the head and if the Chief Magistrate is corrupt then then the whole campaign to fight corruption will be derailed from the onset.
“Private investigations have so far confirmed the Chief Justice’s assertions before magistrates that the Chief Magistrate interferes or obstructs the administration of justice by telling magistrates how to determine matters placed before them.”
Insiders also said Mnangagwa’s Special Anti Corruption Unit has already raised its concerns to the JSC that soon it will be investigating some judges over allegations of graft.
