Mupfumira tells chief magistrate to recuse himself from case

Prisca Mupfumira wants Chief Magistrate Mr Munamato Mutevedzi to recuse himself from the case in which she is jointly charged with former Public Service Commission secretary Ngoni Masoka on criminal abuse of office and concealing a transaction from a principal saying he has dealt and dismissed her other applications and "has already formulated an opinion on the matter".

Mupfumira and Masoka are alleged to have misappropriated a US$90 000 loan facility and paying for air tickets to South Africa worth more than R10 000 without the authority's approval.

Through her lawyer, Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, Mupfumira made the application after Mr Mutevedzi dismissed her application to have the trial deferred to another day pending a Supreme Court determination on her appeal against High Court decision to dismiss a review of her application for exception to the charges.

Adv Hashiti had argued that the outcome of the Supreme Court decision will have a bearing on the on going trial since it has already been set down for hearing. But Mr Mutevedzi dismissed the application saying there was no order from the upper courts that compel him to stay proceedings pending determination of her appeal.

The State was set to call a third witness to testify during Mupfumira and Masoka's trial.

Mr Jonathan Chingwinyiso and Mr Tafara Chirambira, prosecuting, are expected to respond to the application for Mr Mutevedzi's recusal.