HARARE – Advocate Joshua Chirambwe, a Harare-based lawyer accused of making inappropriate remarks to colleague Advocate Fadzayi Mahere in a WhatsApp group, has denied the allegations and described the complaint as “bordering on the farcical.”
In a letter to the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ), Chirambwe said, “It is with a modicum of dismay that the first knowledge I garnered of this complaint was via the highly public and unfortunately informal social media. Maybe because I am young, but I thought that it is in the interests of procedural propriety for such matters to remain between the relevant parties.”
Mahere, a former spokesperson for the Citizens Coalition for Change, accused Chirambwe of making “lusty comments” in a WhatsApp group under the moniker “Young Money,” claiming that such actions amounted to sexual harassment.
Chirambwe dismissed the claims as baseless and questioned why Mahere had not addressed him directly. “Given our professional proximity and regular interactions, one would expect her to approach me personally before escalating the matter to the LSZ,” he said.
Chirambwe also criticized the evidence provided, saying the screenshots lacked metadata and were incomplete. “Any substantive response requires the production of original screenshots with metadata,” he argued, adding that a full transcript was necessary to assess the exchange.
The lawyer pointed to his marital status as evidence of his character, stating he was happily married to his wife, Mukudzei with whom he had two children. “In light of my union, I see no reason to seek companionship elsewhere,” he wrote.
He called on Mahere to outline a legal basis for her claims, including a clear statutory definition of sexual harassment. “Before one responds to a ghost story, they must verify if the ghost even exists. This is dry law and reason,” he stated.
The LSZ had given Chirambwe 14 days to formally respond. The matter remains under review.
