High Court judge Justice Pisirayi Kwenda on Tuesday had no kind words for fraud-accused business partners, Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe who he told to take court seriously after withdrawing a subpoena against their ex-business partner Wicknell Chivayo.
The two made a U-turn on their earlier request to have Chivayo as a witness in their application for referral of their case to the Constitutional Court.
Mpofu and Chimombe's lawyers said they realised that there was no need for Chivayo to testify as his evidence would not help their case.
The judge withdrew the subpoena before slapping the two with costs.
"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," Kwenda ordered.
Advocate Sylvester Hashiti representing Chivayo said his client was not a necessary witness.
"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," he said.
Hashiti said Chivayo does not know anything about the case.
"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 lawyer added.
The case then proceeded with Kwenda noting his displeasure with how events have unfolded over the past month.
Kwenda said the application for referral to the Constitutional Court by the two was taking too long.
"The application for referral is taking longer than it should have.
"You should take these proceedings seriously. We really need to move on," Kwenda said.
The judge said such an application does not take long but the application by the two has taken one and a half months without progress.
Professor Lovemore Madhuku however insisted all was well adding that was not infuriated but simply commented on the matter.
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"You call a witness when you want certain facts to be established .. but we then realised after engaging everyone else that the evidence we wanted to call was not relevant.
"The judge did not say he is not happy. He was only making comments that he would have wanted certain bearings to have taken place ... judges are there to try matters. Like in this case, he is presiding over the matter," he said.
The two also had plans to summon Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission chairperson Michael Reza in the matter but Madhuku said it is no longer necessary.
On previous appearances, the two insisted that Reza influenced their denial of bail adding that they initially had consent.
The two had also subpoenaed Provincial Public Prosecutor Tendai Shonhai, the investigating officer Henry Chapwanya whom they also excused, saying they were no longer going to hear their evidence.
