HARARE – Days after being confirmed as Prosecutor General, Kumbirai Hodzi has moved to purge top National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) lawyer Chris Mutangadura who is related to Grace Mugabe, apparently targeted for links with the fallen government of President Robert Mugabe.
Mutangadura, who is the director for economic crimes in the NPA and a former chief law officer, was advised on February 7 that he had been transferred to Guruve, a district in Mashonaland Central.
In a letter to Mutangadura, seen by ZimLive, Hodzi wrote: “You are hereby informed that with immediate effect you are transferred to Guruve National Prosecuting Authority Station. You will be taking instructions from there. All your work to be properly handed over to the National Director of Public Prosecutions for further action.”
The re-assignment is a major demotion for Mutangadura.
Sources said the lawyer had “zero intention of participating in his public humiliation” and would be quitting the NPA entirely.
“Chris is under no illusion that this ‘transfer’ to rustic Guruve is in fact an attempt to force him to quit. Hodzi personally dislikes him, their beef is historic from the time the new Prosecutor General was Deputy Attorney General,” a source close to the lawyer said.
“There has always been a perception Mutangadura was loyal to former President Mugabe and had prevented political prosecutions of officials from the so-called G40 – the arch-nemesis of current president Emmerson Mnangagwa.”
Hodzi was recently appointed PG by Mnangagwa despite flunking interviews conducted by the Judicial Service Commission, which placed him sixth out of 10 candidates.
