Harare - Zimbabwe’s Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana was due to appear in the Harare Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday in what is thought to be related to a decision to enter into plea bargain agreements with some of the men accused of plotting to bomb a dairy plant belonging to President Robert Mugabe.
Information obtained by the African News Agency (ANA) is that Tomana’s arrest is in connection with the quartet arrested on January 22 for allegedly plotting to bomb Mugabe’s Alpha and Omega Dairies plant and tuckshop.
The top prosecutor was arrested on yet-to-be-preferred charges, but most likely abuse of office, after he allegedly allowed the State to enter into plea bargains with two of the four men accused of plotting to bomb the dairy plant.
The plea bargain suspects’ charges were then withdrawn.
Tomana is said to be currently held at Harare Central Police Station.
Police national spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, was not picking up her calls on Tuesday to comment on the arrest.
The quartet - Borman Ngwenya, 30, Solomon Makumbe, 29, Owen Kuchata, 34, and Silas Pfupa, 37 - were arrested on January 22 at Mugabe’s Gushungo Dairy Farm in Mazowe on charges of banditry after they were allegedly found in possession of Molotov cocktails and political party documents.
Ngwenya is a corporal at 1 Field Regiment based at Cranborne Barracks in the capital, while Makombe is a retired military Intelligence Corps officer based at Artillery Brigade in Domboshava.
On January 29, prosecutor Sharon Mashavira made an application before magistrate Elijah Makomo, seeking to have Makumbe and Pfupa removed from remand before plea.
She told the court they would now be used as State witnesses in the case and her application was granted.
It is the State’s case that the four planned to bomb the dairy processing plant as a protest against Mugabe’s failed leadership.
“They accused Mugabe of causing suffering to Zimbabweans because of his alleged dictatorial leadership style,” the State papers read.
African News Agency