News / National
Suspended CIOs drags Spy agency (CIO) to court
05 Dec 2011 at 08:40hrs | Views
2 suspended senior Central Intelligence Organisation operatives have dragged the dreaded spy agency to court, demanding re-instatement on the basis that there is no law in Zimbabwe governing the operations of the organisation.
The extremely rare case is likely to re-ignite national debate around the security sector, as well as the desperate need for reforms in these shadowy and much abused structures.
CIO chief administration officer David Nyabando and chief transport officer Ricky Manwere were suspended in 1998 from the spy agency over a Z$17 million fraud that they allegedly committed.
The CIO alleges that Nyabando and Manwere defrauded the state of cash that was supposed to be used for building "safe houses."
On their part, the 2 officers insist that they built the safe houses but were pushed out of the spy agency in controversial circumstances.
Nyabando and Manwere 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.
Mukandi has since been freed by the courts. Mukandi and his boss, Shadreck Chipanga, former Zanu-PF MP for Makoni East, were dismissed from the spy agency in 1999.
They were replaced by the current director-general Happyton Bonyongwe and Retired Brigadier Elisha Muzonzini, respectively.
Bonyongwe is the first respondent in this case. Following their suspension on October 6, 1998, the spy agency failed to call the officers for a hearing.
The extremely rare case is likely to re-ignite national debate around the security sector, as well as the desperate need for reforms in these shadowy and much abused structures.
CIO chief administration officer David Nyabando and chief transport officer Ricky Manwere were suspended in 1998 from the spy agency over a Z$17 million fraud that they allegedly committed.
The CIO alleges that Nyabando and Manwere defrauded the state of cash that was supposed to be used for building "safe houses."
On their part, the 2 officers insist that they built the safe houses but were pushed out of the spy agency in controversial circumstances.
Nyabando and Manwere 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.
Mukandi has since been freed by the courts. Mukandi and his boss, Shadreck Chipanga, former Zanu-PF MP for Makoni East, were dismissed from the spy agency in 1999.
They were replaced by the current director-general Happyton Bonyongwe and Retired Brigadier Elisha Muzonzini, respectively.
Bonyongwe is the first respondent in this case. Following their suspension on October 6, 1998, the spy agency failed to call the officers for a hearing.
Source - Daily News on Sunday
