HARARE – Prosecutors went on strike in Harare on Thursday protesting the arrest of a prosecutor for consenting to the release of former finance minister Ignatius Chombo’s passport.

Tapiwa Kasema was charged with criminal abuse of office and released on $150 bail by Harare provincial magistrate, Vongai Muchuchuti.

His colleagues stopped working in protest, prompting Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi to give them assurances in writing that in future, “no prosecutor will be arrested during the course of duty without the written consent of the Prosecutor General or the Director of Public Prosecutions.”

Kasema consented to an application by Chombo, who is facing trial on corruption charges, for the release of his passport to undergo medical attention in South Africa on May 10.

On May 12, however, Chombo had the passport seized at the Robert Mugabe International Airport by an unidentified man who approached him while he sat in the departure lounge. The passport was later turned over at the court clerk’s office under unclear circumstances.

Kasema was accused of “acting contrary and inconsistent with his duties by consenting to the release of the passport thereby showing favour to Chombo.”

Kasema, the prosecution alleges, consented to the release of the passport in the full knowledge that the passport was being held in respect of two other criminal trials “which the accused was not handling.”

The Prosecutors Association of Zimbabwe handed Hodzi a protest letter in which they said “prosecutors are not protected from the decisions they make whilst in the course of duty.”

“If anything, they are being prosecuted for exercising their legal minds. Before a prosecutor is arrested, internal remedies must be exhausted first before criminal allegations are laid on the prosecutors. Prosecutors must be protected by the NPA from intimidation by any powers that maybe,” the prosecutors said.

The prosecutors also complained of interference in their work by the Special Anti-Corruption Unit recently established by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“There has been a lot of instructions being handed down by SACU to the prosecutors yet in accordance to the NPA Act we poth have delegated authority from the Prosecutor General. We feel that this is a grave abuse of office…,” they added.

Hodzi, betraying lack of awareness of the decision to charge Kasema, was forced to make a commitment that the incident would not happen again.

“The PG assures all prosecutors who are carrying pout their duties professionally and with integrity that no prosecutor will be arrested during the course of duty without the written consent of the PG or the national director of public prosecutions,” he said in a circular to the prosecutors.

He however appeared to take away the prosecutors’ right to exercise their discretion in an application like Chombo’s, saying “such consent shall only be given after the Prosecutor General has carried out all lawful internal procedures.”