Ex-cop wants Commissioner General Mutamba jailed

The High Court has thrown out a contempt of court application filed by former police officer Tatenda Shiri, who sought the imprisonment of top Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officials, including Commissioner-General Stephen Mutamba, for allegedly defying a reinstatement order.

Justice Fatima Maxwell, presiding over the matter in Harare, ruled that Shiri's application was "without merit," finding that the police officials could not be held in contempt because they lacked the authority to reinstate him and because the order in question was under legal challenge.

"First and second respondents do not have the authority to reinstate the applicant. They cannot be committed to civil imprisonment for failing to do an act which is beyond their mandates," said Justice Maxwell.

Shiri, a former ZRP officer dismissed after being convicted of violating the Police Act [Chapter 11:10], had won a default judgment last year ordering his reinstatement "without loss of salary and benefits."

However, after the ZRP and the Police Service Commission (PSC) did not act on the order, Shiri accused them of "wilful and mala fide defiance" and sought to have the officials jailed for contempt.

Represented by Mugiya and Macharaga Legal Practitioners, Shiri argued that civil contempt arises from the deliberate refusal to comply with a court order, insisting the police had ignored the judgment in bad faith.

But the police, represented by F. Chimunoko from the Attorney General's Office, countered that the reinstatement order was a default judgment currently being challenged through an application for rescission, and therefore unenforceable.

"It is ill-advised for the applicant to seek to enforce an order which is being challenged," the State argued, adding that executing such an order "would impede justice if it is successfully rescinded."

Justice Maxwell agreed, finding that the existence of rescission proceedings undermined Shiri's claims of wilful defiance.
"The existence of a court case challenging the very order they are alleged to be in contempt of removes the mala fides. If their application for rescission fails and they still do not comply, then the respondents would indeed be acting wilfully and mala fide," she said.

The judge also held that Shiri's application was procedurally defective, as he had failed to personally serve the respondents, a mandatory requirement in contempt proceedings.

Shiri, who has been fighting to regain his post since his dismissal, will now have to wait for the outcome of the rescission applications filed by the ZRP and the PSC, which have effectively suspended his reinstatement order (HCH 1269/24).