Court official arrested for demanding bribe

A COURT official working at the Bulawayo High Court, Civil Division was arrested and suspended from work after he allegedly demanded a $50 bribe from a member of the public who sought assistance with divorce papers.

Daniel Manda of House Number 20 Murphy Road, Kingsdale, was arrested last week on Wednesday.

The complainant, Mr Peter Staal, deposed an affidavit alleging that sometime last month, he approached Mr Manda seeking information pertaining to his wife's divorce.

"Having had to obtain information for my wife who works in Harare with reference to a divorce in 1992 from her late husband, I went to the High Court to seek her divorce papers."

He added: "I was told to go to Harare to get papers by a certain lady, but Mr Manda called me aside and said if I gave him something, he would give me the papers."

Furthermore, Mr Staal allegedly said he paid Mr Manda $50, but he failed to deliver the papers resulting in him opening a case of fraud at the Bulawayo Central Police Station. Mr Manda denied the charges.

In his warned and cautioned statement, he expressed shock on the allegations and said that in his many years of service, he had never sought for bribes.

"I must state that I attend to a number of people to the extent that it is difficult for me to retrace what each of them would think of my service. The details of the complainant have eluded me but what I recall is that the gentlemen came asking for a divorce order for his wife.

"I advised that he should ask for the case number from his wife or bring relevant papers. In light of the fact that he did not have the correct papers or a reference number, he could not be assisted. I must express shock then to allegations of improper conduct on my part," said Mr Manda in his defence.

Mr Manda appeared before the area public prosecutor Mr Simon Nleya on Wednesday who remanded him out of custody pending further investigations.

However, the Acting Registrar of the High Court Mr Sithembinkosi Msipa, has suspended Mr Manda pending criminal charges. He will also face an internal disciplinary hearing.

The Acting Registrar charged Manda with violating Judicial Service regulations.

"While you were employed as a Records and Information Assistant and assigned to do civil registry duties, you demanded to be given something by Mr Staal in order for you to give him the information that his wife urgently required."

He added: "You received from Mr Staal $50 as consideration in order for you to give him information that he required which act was contrary to the expectations of the organisation. Your conduct amounts to an act or omission which is inconsistent with or prejudicial to the discharge of official duties including abuse of authority."

Nevertheless, the Registrar gave Mr Manda 14 days to respond to charges in writing either admitting or denying the allegations of misconduct.

"If you admit the allegations of misconduct, draw attention to any mitigating factors which you wish to be taken into account in the assessment of any penalty which may be imposed upon you."

"If you deny the charge offer, an explanation of your attitude to the charge and additionally a statement explaining the basis of your defence."

Prominent city lawyer, Mr Dumisani Dube of Cheda and Partners who represented Mr Manda said the charges would not hold before the court of law.

"Our defence mechanism is clear, we will put Mr Staal to the test and ask him to prove that he gave my client $50 including the serial number of the note," he said.

"We cannot explain Mr Staal's motive but the court is guided by evidence. If we rely on allegations instead of factual evidence our courts of law will turn to kangaroo courts. My client is looking forward to his day in court," he summed.