Eminent lawyer Mpofu arrested

By Mugove Tafirenyika On Jun 2, 2020

Mugove Tafirenyika
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
tafirenyikam@dailynews.co.zw

©️ PROMINENT Harare lawyer Thabani Mpofu was arrested yesterday for allegedly defeating the course of justice in a Constitutional Court application that he filed last year challenging the appointment of Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi, the Daily News reports.

Mpofu is well-known for having successfully defended the 2017 military coup which ended nearly four decades of late former president Robert Mugabe’s ruinous rule, after this was challenged in court.

Later, he also made global news after he unsuccessfully represented Nelson Chamisa at the Constitutional Court — shortly after the hotly-disputed 2018 presidential poll in which the charismatic politician accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of ballot fraud.

Yesterday, police alleged that Mpofu had attempted to defeat or obstruct the course of justice last year after he filed a court application in the Constitutional Court on behalf of a client who allegedly didn’t exist.

National police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said Mpofu had allegedly contravened provisions of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

“He is facing two counts of the same offence together with three others who are yet to be arrested for the case, which occurred between January 2019 and February 2019,” Nyathi said.

Mpofu, who is represented by top Harare lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, is expected to appear in court today after spending last night in custody.

“It is being alleged that I, acting with Makanza (full name not given) and Choice Damiso, well knowing that Simbarashe Zuze does not exist, drafted an affidavit to purport as if it had already been sworn before Choice Damiso and filed it before the Constitutional Court under case number CCZ 03/19, challenging the appointment of the prosecutor general.

“It is, therefore, alleged that by such an act I defeated or obstructed the course of justice and as such make this statement on my own free will,” Mpofu said in a statement seen by the Daily News.

Mpofu also signed another statement before the police, where he was charged with allegedly obstructing the course of justice for allegedly making another attempt to stop an enquiry into the existence of Zuze.

“It is alleged that I, acting in connivance with Joshua Chirambwe, upon realising that our initial application under case number CCZ3/2019 had failed, went on to file another application at the Constitutional Court containing duplicated information from that of the purported Simbarashe Zuze in a bid to stop further enquiries into the existence of Simbarashe Zuze, thereby defeating the judicial proceedings,” Mpofu allegedly said in another statement.

This was after Chirambwe had approached the Constitutional Court to nullify Hodzi’s appointment, barely a fortnight after Zuze had made a similar demand.

The pair argued in the country’s highest court then that Hodzi was not fit for the job, and demanded that his appointment be rescinded.

Hodzi had been part of the people who took part in public interviews in 2018 to fill the then vacant post of prosecutor general, following the termination of Ray Goba’s employment.

Before the interviews, Hodzi was the acting prosecutor general.

His appointment sparked controversy after he was given the nod ahead of three other candidates who were said to have scored better points than him in the interviews.

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