High Court clears Tinashe Mugabe ‘show

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Television personality Tinashe Mugabe has won a case in which he dragged the Health Professions Authority Zimbabwe (HPAZ) to court for attempting to ban his famous TV show, The Closure DNA.

Mugabe will now do his shows without any obstacles after he was cleared by High court judge Justice Joseph Mafusire.

Widely known as the DNA man, Mugabe had sued HPAZ together with the Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Council Zimbabwe (MCAZ) after the two organisations complained he was unqualified to issue DNA test results.

He filed a High Court application through Global Parentage Services (Private) Limited t/a Global DNA Zimbabwe.

The daring presenter argued the two had no right to suspend his operations because Global DNA his company is not a medical entity and is not governed by their rules and regulations.

Mafusire upheld his arguments ruling the presenter was on track.

The judge nullified the regulatory boards’ move stating they should not have forced Mugabe to register as a health institution in the first place.

“The conclusion reached in this judgment, that the applicant (Global DNA ) is not a health institution within the meaning of that term in the Act, puts paid to any other point of contention in this matter. It becomes unnecessary to render a determination on them. The respondents (authority boards) simply exercised powers that the Act does not give them.”

Tinashe Mugabe

“It may well be that the applicant’s activities require proper regulation .But if there should exist some other law providing for such regulation, it has not been pointed out to the court. The Act is certainly no law.

“However, it would be manifestly contradictory to grant the first leg of the second prayer, namely that the cancellation of the applicant’s registration certificates was void.

“If it is not a health institution, then none of the requirements of health institutions as prescribed by the Health Professions Act including registering with the authority boards applies to it.”

Ruled the judge, “In the result, the following orders are hereby granted: The applicant is not a health institution as defined by the Health Professions Act {chapter 27:19, the applicant does not fall under the control of the respondents in terms of the Act aforesaid, the suspension of the applicant’s operations by the respondents in September 2021 is hereby set aside and the respondents shall pay the costs of suit jointly and severally , the one paying the other to be absolved.”

Mugabe had argued that his company was a mere sample collection site.

He also said the company did not run the DNA tests itself but rather engaged laboratories who tested the samples.

He had also argued that the initial registration last year was a result of undue pressure from the board.

The respondents had in response argued that the DNA company was a health institution within the meaning of the Act and was supposed to register with HPAZ .

In his application, Mugabe is seeking a declaratory order that he is entitled to operate freely.

According to his application, when he started his operations in DNA testing, he was approached by the Health Professions Authority, which advised him to register with them.

As part of the conditions, Global DNA was informed to employ a laboratory scientist and was also registered under MCAZ as a collection site.

He said Global DNA was only a collection site and samples are sent out of Zimbabwe for testing before results are delivered to clients.

Mugabe said the company does not“diagnose, treat, mitigate or prevent illness, injury or disability, abnormal, physical or mental state or the symptoms in human beings as defined by the Health Professions Act.”

He said employing a laboratory scientist does not mean Global DNA was now a medical facility.

Mugabe also submitted that registration of his company as a health institution was a nullity. —NewZimbabwe