Harare Woman Sues Kazembe, Matanga For Not Investigating Her Forced Abortion Case
A Harare woman is seeking $500 000 from Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe after the police failed to carry out their constitutional mandate to investigate a case she has reported, which resulted in her suffering non-patrimonial loss, The Standard reports.
The matter came to light in the court summons submitted through her lawyers, Tendai Biti Law, in which Kazembe, police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga is the second respondent and officer-in-charge (OIC) Machipisa CID and Constable Dzingarwi are cited as defendants.
In the summons seen by the publication, Beauty Chiroodza said:
Sometime in November 2019, plaintiff approached Machipisa Police Station in the presence of her legal practitioners, laying a complaint concerning Dr Tawanda Zinyowera, who was practicing, without a valid medical certificate issued by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (MDPCZ), within the third defendant (OIC)’s jurisdiction.
Plaintiff became aware of this fact through its legal practitioners, who wrote a letter to the MDPCZ on the plaintiff’s behalf enquiring whether Zinyowera was a duly registered medical doctor in terms of the Health Service Act. In its response, the MDPCZ informed the plaintiff that Zinyowera was last registered with the authority in 2007 and was deregistered over non-payment of fees.
Plaintiff, in the company of her lawyers, approached the third defendant’s office and left a copy of such a letter in the care of the third defendant, and caused to have this issue investigated as part of a complaint she had lodged under CR150/7/17. Despite this information, the third defendant chose not to or neglected to effectively investigate this matter in terms of section 2I9 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The failures that can be attributed to the defendants in this regard, include but are not limited to the following: (a) failure to apprehend the accused or question the accused person; (b) failure to attend to the crime scene/or place of operation expeditiously and attend to the scene for the purposes of gathering evidence to establish whether or not illegal medical practice was taking place; as provided for and empowered in terms of section 49 and 51 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (Chapter 9:04),” she said, adding that she made numerous follow-ups, but got no satisfactory answers.
The defendants have reportedly entered an appearance to defend, the case is yet to be heard.
More: The Standard
