Harare High Court judge Justice Lavender Makoni has ruled that a search warrant which had been given to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) by Harare Magistrate, Elisha Singano is null and void. The warrant was supposed to be used to search and seize all documents relating to Grace Mugabe’s 2014 Doctorate. The University of Zimbabwe challenged the warrant saying that it was illegal.
The UZ in its court papers had said,
The warrant of search and seizure is invalid and should be set aside for the following reasons: it states, on the face as well as in the affidavit used to obtain it, that it is issued in terms of Section 54 (2) (b) as read with Section 50 (1) (a) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (Chapter 9:23) (hereinafter referred to as the ‘CP & E Act’).
This section has nothing to do with a warrant of search and seizure, and it is wholly about entering premises for purposes of obtaining evidence, without a warrant. This fact alone invalidates the warrant as it is based on a premise which is wrong,
Justice Makoni agreed and ruled
Whereupon, after reading documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered by consent that: the warrant of search and seizure issued by the third respondent (Singano) to the first and second respondents (UZ and Machinya) on the 12th of February 2018 be and is hereby declared null and void,
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