Zimbabwean socialite and businesswoman, Susan Mutami has slapped Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe with a US$50 000 claim for unlawful arrest early this year.
Also being sued by Mutami are; Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, the Director State Intelligence Services (Central Intelligence Organisation) Isaac Moyo, and Officer-in-Charge Law and Order, Harare.
Mutami was arrested on 18 February 2021 at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport while she was in the company of her four-year-old son on their way to Dubai.
After their arrest, Mutami and her child were taken to a police post at the airport where they were briefly detained before taken to Harare Central Police Station CID Law and Order section.
They were kept in police custody until Sunday 21 February 2021 when they were eventually allowed to depart.
The state security agents are being accused of claiming Mutami was a key state witness in a pending case without requesting her at any given time to act as such.
In a letter to Kazembe also copied to Matanga, the complainant’s legal counsel Mbidzo Muchadehama and Makoni wrote:
They had no warrant of arrest for our clients. Our clients had not committed any offence.
They were not about to commit any offence, neither were they committing any offence.
… The detention subjected her to psychological trauma as she was detained together with her four-year-old son.
She was subjected to personal anguish, torment, pain, shock, and suffering particularly when state security agents barred her from using her inhaler.
Mutami’s lawyers said she also lost several income-generating opportunities upon her arrest and detention especially when the purpose of her travel to Dubai was for business. They said Mutami is the proprietor of S.V.M Health, registered in Australia.
Mutami made headlines early this year when she revealed the secrets of her love relationship with Norton MP Temba Mliswa.