"NPA Has No Issue With ZACC Prosecuting Cases If Guidelines Are Followed"
The Prosecutor General, Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, said that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will give the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) permission to prosecute cases if they request it.
This comes after a disagreement between the two organisations. The NPA dropped charges against Harare City Council Town Clerk Hosiah Chisango and others over a US$9 million street lights contract, but ZACC believes they still have a case against them and plans to file new charges.
In an interview with The Herald, Matanda-Moyo said that for ZACC to get permission to prosecute, they must follow certain guidelines, such as having a separate team for investigating and prosecuting cases.
ZACC has wanted the power to prosecute for a long time to help fight the scourge of corruption in Zimbabwe.
Matanda-Moyo said she would be fine with giving ZACC the authority to prosecute, as long as they follow the rules. She said:
If they want to prosecute matters, they can approach me, I have the powers to issue prosecution certificates, as long as they have a set department which is different from investigations so that we do not have an outcry from the public to say the same person who is investigating is the same person prosecuting.
So I do not see any problem. Because as NPA, we do not hoard the right to prosecute.
I believe in teamwork, so the more people we have on board, the better.
As long as they report to the Prosecutor General and are bound by our prosecutorial guidelines, follow the guidelines on how we prosecute matters and how we reach decisions on whether a matter can be prosecuted or a matter cannot be prosecuted.
It is simply a question of that distinction so that there will be no outcry. Personally, I do not hold views against getting lawyers from ZACC to prosecute matters here at NPA.
Matanda-Moyo explained that the NPA sometimes focuses on certain crimes, like armed robbery and murder, that are more common at the time, to keep society safe.
She said if another arm is capable of prosecuting crimes, there’s no problem with that.
ZACC has previously said they want the power to prosecute corruption cases more quickly. They’ve also expressed disagreement with the NPA’s decisions to not prosecute some cases, believing they’ve covered all legal aspects.
Because of this, ZACC feels that having prosecuting powers would help speed up corruption cases.
