HARARE – A Harare businessman has filed a complaint against Harare magistrate Lynne Chinzou accusing her of “gross bias” in her handling of a forgery trial involving his former employee.

The businessman, Skhumbuzo Manduna and his company, Andiswe Phakade (Pvt) Ltd trading as AP Carriers, had taken Elias Masora, who was a company driver, to court accusing him of forging a defensive driving certificate.

However, following trial, Musora was acquitted with the magistrate citing insufficient evidence to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt.

Musora, while still employed by the company, allegedly got involved in theft of 1,200 litres of diesel within a month of his hiring, which prompted Manduna to scrutinise his employment credentials.

The theft case is pending at Mbare Magistrates’ Court.

Manduna feels the magistrate did not handle the forgery case well enough.

“The above-mentioned subject matter refers in terms of which we are formally writing to your office laying a complaint pertaining to the gross bias demonstrated by the magistrate in the manner she presided over the matter S v Elias Masora,” reads the letter, dated 12 September 2024, and addressed to the Chief Magistrate.

“In her judgement, the magistrate contended that Elias Masora disclosed to the company that he didn’t have a defensive driving certificate; this assertion defies all logic because for anyone to apply for a position of truck driver, you ought to be in possession of a defensive certificate.

“It is inconceivable that the accused approached a company soliciting for a job, disclosed to the company that he doesn’t hold the required documents for the job and still went on to be hired.

“Truck driving is not a specialist skill such that a company can risk to forego any requirement as far as recruitment of a truck driver is concerned.

“It is evident here that the magistrate ought to have applied her mind.”

The State’s case relied on a single witness, the complainant, who testified that Masora had furnished a fake document during the hiring process.

However, the court noted that neither the original defensive certificate nor the request letter to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe was tendered as part of the evidence.

Furthermore, the court questioned the authenticity of a letter from the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, dated March 20, 2024, which had a date stamp of March 19, 2024.

It stated that Masora ‘s defensive driving certificate had expired on 24 February 2019.

The court also noted that the key witness, the Human Resources Manager who hired Masora, was not called to testify.

Manduna said magistrate Chinzou demonstrated bias in her judgment.

In her ruling, Chinzou queried the police’s decision to write to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, which Manduna argues was within the police’s discretionary powers.

He further contends that she expressed doubts about the authenticity of a letter from the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe without subpoenaing a witness to clarify.

Manduna also raised concerns about the delay in accessing the court record and the circumstances under which it was finally obtained citing that the record took two months in the magistrate office before it could be accessed.

He alleges Magistrate Chinzou was “clutching at straws” to secure an acquittal for Masora and urges consideration of the complaint.