By Judith Nyuke
A lawyer who once made headlines after she was arrested over fraudulently acquiring a conversion certificate to practice law in Zimbabwe has once again appeared before the court on allegations of threatening to “deal spiritually” with the witnesses, ZACC officers and the State who are working on her case.
Linda Kovi, 34, appeared before Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje charged with defeating or obstructing the course of justice.
She was remanded in custody to 4 March 2024 for bail application. The State represented by Anesu Chirenje alleges that sometime in 2023, Kovi was arrested by ZACC officers on allegations of fraudulently acquiring a Conversion Certificate with the Zimbabwe Council for Legal Education (CLE).
A team of ZACC officers led by Chimusoro E. was tasked to investigate and deal with the matter. Kovi was taken to court and was released on bail and one of the conditions for her release was that she was not to interfere with State witnesses.
On 23 November 2023, Kovi allegedly called one of the key State witnesses Shorai Tafadzwa Mupunga asking her about the evidence that ZACC had against her.
It is further alleged that she went on to tell Shorai Tafadzwa Mupunga that there was a traditional healer known as Chief Dotito [Still at large], whom she said had a vision of her being attacked by evil spirits as a result of her being involved in the CLE cases.
On the same date, the said Chief Dotito, called Shorai Tafadzwa Mupunga and warned her that she was going to be spiritually attacked and also be suspended at work if she to continued being involved in the CLE cases.
According to the State, this was done in a bid to instil fear in the witness so that she could refrain from testifying against the accused.
Kovi went further to plead with Chief Dotito to use his spiritual powers to deal with the ZACC investigating officers and Court officials who had dealt with her case, namely Prosecutors Pardon Dziva and Lancelot Mutsokoti, and Magistrates Marewanazvo Gofa and Stanford Mambanje.
Further allegations are that on the 21st of December 2023, Kovi connived with some police detectives to concoct criminal allegations against a ZACC officer investigating her case.
The accused then Legal Practitioner, Chawaona Kanoti approached Senior Investigating Officer Elisha Chimusoro and informed him about the allegations against him and indicated that the investigating officer was Kovi’s boyfriend.
He went on to advice SIO Chimusoro that Kovi was in a position to talk to her boyfriend to solve the matter if he in turn assisted her.
On 29 February 2024, after her arrest she reportedly warned one of the ZACC investigators, Senior Investigating Officer Shelton Gambiza to play a passive role in her case as something sinister was going to befall all the officers who were involved in her case The accused acted unlawfully.
