Two senior CIO operatives re-instated after 13 years

The High Court has set aside the suspension of two senior Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives and ordered their immediate reinstatement with full benefits, ending a convoluted 13-year legal battle, Daily News reported.

CIO chief administration officer David Nyabando and chief transport officer Ricky Mawere challenged their 1998 suspension from the spy agency in the High Court in 2005, refusing to be dragged before a disciplinary hearing arguing that there was no law in Zimbabwe governing the operations of the CIO in terms of disciplinary procedures.

The CIO alleges Nyabando and Mawere defrauded the State of cash that was supposed to be used for building "safe houses".

The two senior officers, ex-liberation fighters, insist they built the safe houses but were pushed out of the spy agency in a dirty CIO succession power play.

Nyabando and Mawere were jointly charged with Lovemore Mukandi, the former deputy director-general of the CIO who was arrested at the airport in September this year after his deportation from Canada. He has since been freed by the courts.

The cancellation of Nyabando and Mawere's suspension was unopposed by the spy agency, which has instead sought to pursue criminal charges against the operatives.

On the criminal charges the Supreme Court is scheduled to make a ruling on an application for permanent stay of criminal proceedings ostensibly because the alleged trial took an inordinately long time.

The High Court has ruled that their suspension from duty was unlawful, null and void and that the inordinately long time it had taken to hear the case breached provisions of Section 18(9) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which states that: "Every person is entitled to be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time."

The order was passed by Justice Francis Bere on a writ petition filed by the CIO operatives who had challenged their suspension.

Nyabando and Mawere had cited the CIO director of administration as the first respondent, the CIO director-general Happyton Bonyongwe as the second respondent and minister of State for National Security Sydney Sekeramayi as the third respondent.

"Whereupon, after reading documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered that the suspension of the applicants from their employment be and is hereby declared to be null and void," says Justice Bere's ruling.

"The applicants are entitled to be reinstated in their posts and to be paid all salary and other benefits due to them with effect from the date they were withheld (1998).

"The respondents are not entitled to hold an enquiry into the alleged acts of misconduct on the part of the applicants before a board that has not been established at law.

"The cost of this application be borne by respondents (CIO) on attorney and client scale," says the ruling.

Advocate Julia Wood, who is representing the CIO operatives, has since advised the Civil Division of the Attorney General's Office so that it can advise the CIO about the court order which has directed the spy agency to reinstate the two.

The letter advises that Nyabando and Mawere shall be reporting for duty on January 2.