A SENIOR cop and two junior officers on Friday nailed the officer-in-charge of Tsholotsho — police Chief Inspector Muyambirwa Muzzah — facing three counts of associating with a criminal suspect, abandoning an anti-poaching operation and defying an order to attend a 2013 senior police officers’ meeting.
SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
Muzzah is appearing before Lupane magistrate Aelene Munamati.
The officer commanding Lupane district police Superintendent Mkandla, who was Muzzah’s supervisor during the anti-poaching operation, Sergeant George Ndlovu and Constable Rucheche all testified against him in court.
Muzzah is accused of associating with Busani Moyo, who was convicted and sentenced to nine years in jail for illegally dealing in elephant tusks.
Muzzah also allegedly borrowed Moyo’s vehicle after he was released pending his appeal against conviction and sentence after he successfully applied for bail. Muzzah was charged with abandoning an anti-poaching patrol operation in the Hwange National Park and defying an order to attend a senior police officers’ resolution meeting in Hwange.
He denied the charges saying he was fairly new in Tsholotsho and was not aware that Moyo was out on bail over alleged dealings in elephant tusks and was not even aware that he was reporting to the police station.
On the second charge of allegedly abandoning duty, Muzzah said they were not given a date to complete the patrol. Muzzah said he was making follow-ups on new allegations that Moyo was dealing in elephant tusks as part of the anti-poaching operation and had thus not abandoned duty.
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On the count of boycotting a senior cops’ meeting, Muzzah said he was never informed of the meeting as there was no way he could skipped such an important gathering.
However, in his testimony, Mkandla told the court that associating with a convict out on bail brought the name of the police force into disrepute.
Mkandla also said Muzzah just disappeared from the patrolling crew without informing him as the supervisor, meaning he was undermining his authority.
He alleged that when Muzzah returned, he did not report to him where he had gone and what he had gone to do. Ndlovu told the court that Muzzah was lying when he said he did not know that Moyo was out on bail when he borrowed his (Moyo) vehicle.
He said he was at Muzzah’s office when Moyo told him that he was sentenced to nine years and was out on bail pending appeal and it was surprising that he still went on to borrow the vehicle.
Ndlovu said he looked for Muzzah to inform him about the senior cops’ meeting scheduled for November 16 and found him at Hwange business centre at 4pm on the eve of the gathering.
Muzzah denied being told of the meeting by anyone saying he was ill and produced a medical report to prove his illness.
The magistrate remanded the case to March 21.
