High Court judge Justice Pisirayi Kwenda criticised fraud-accused Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe when they appeared before him on Monday, reported NewZimbabwe.com.
The pair withdrew a subpoena they had issued against their ex-business partner, Wicknell Chivayo, who they had initially sought as a witness in their application to refer the case to the Constitutional Court.
Mpofu and Chimombe’s legal team told the court that they no longer believed Chivayo’s testimony would be beneficial to their case.
In response, Justice Kwenda withdrew the subpoena and imposed costs on the two, urging them to take the court process more seriously. Said Kwenda:
The subpoena issued to Mr Chivayo be and is hereby set aside. The first and second accused shall meet costs associated with the attendance of Mr Chivayo and his legal counsel.
Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, representing Chivayo, said that his client was not a necessary witness. Said Hashiti:
The court has ordered the setting aside of the subpoena because the court found that he is not a relevant witness in respect of this matter and anybody who has no relevance to the determination of this case is not a necessary or relevant witness so on that account the subpoena has been set aside.
You can only testify when you are necessary or relevant for the progress of a case.
Mr Chivayo knows nothing about the case. He was completely unaware of the case, he was not given notice and he was not given a summary of the case to testify on.
There is basically nothing which he brings before the court, the reason I say it was not relevant. He could not have testified on something he does not know about and is not involved in, and was never involved.
The case continued with Judge Kwenda expressing frustration over the delays in the application for referral to the Constitutional Court.
He pointed out that the referral application should not take this long, yet it has been unresolved for one and a half months.
Mpofu and Chimombe also had plans to summon Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) chairperson Michael Reza in the matter but their lawyer, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, said it is no longer necessary.
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