Commissioner Emmanuel Chimwanda
Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
A bid by Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission boss Commissioner Emmanuel Chimwanda to recover his Nissan Navara from the police failed yesterday after the High Court threw out his urgent chamber application.
Comm Emmanuel Chimwanda had his service vehicle impounded by the police a fortnight ago and he filed a High Court application challenging the seizure.
His term of office expired in August last year, but early this year the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notice recalling the commissioners to perform their duties pending the appointment of a new leadership.
While Chimwanda was back at work, he claimed that zacc acting secretary Senior Assistant Commissioner Silence Pondo instructed the police officers to forcibly take away the Nissan Navara that had been allocated to him for use at the commission.
Justice Tendai Uchena yesterday dismissed the application because Comm Chimwanda, in his court papers, failed to cite the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
The vehicle was seized by the police, but Comm Chimwanda decided to sue ZACC and its acting secretary Senior Assistant Commissioner Silence Pondo only.
It was the court’s finding that the order sought could not be enforced without the citation of the relevant authority that seized the vehicle.
According to the urgent chamber application filed last week, Comm Chimwanda said the actions of the commission were unlawful.
“The conduct of the respondents was unlawful because I am entitled to the motor vehicle as part of my conditions of service in terms of my contract of employment which still subsists,” he said.
“Respondents have taken the law into their own hands. They do not have a court order to act in the manner they did and they have conducted a classical act of spoliation.”
Comm Chimwanda attached Home Affairs Secretary Mr Melusi Matshiya’s letter dated May 27, 2014, that recalled him and other commissioners to work in trying to prove that he was legitimately back at work.
He said he was harassed and intimidated by the police at the time of the seizure of the vehicle.
“I was not armed and I did not even have a knife,” he said. “My nails were short and could not even harm anyone and yet they thought it necessary for them to bring 14 armed police officers with AK rifles and full riot gear.
“This is nothing but a complete abuse of State resources and machinery.”