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Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
The 14 CCC supporters facing charges of assault, arson and looting after the violence in June that rocked Nyatsime area after Ms Moreblessing Ali was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a former boyfriend, were yesterday granted $50 000 bail each coupled with stringent conditions.
Through their lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu, the 14 successfully applied for bail before High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi, on the grounds of changed circumstances.
Their release from custodial remand comes after Zengeza North MP Godfrey Sithole, who is facing a similar offence, was released on Friday last week.
Precious Jeche, Misheck Guzha, Odias Makoma, Chauya Shopa, Zex Makoni, Roan Tsoka, Zephania Chinembiri, Shepherd Bulakasi, Tatenda Pindahama, Enock Tsoka, Emmanuel Muradzikwa, Robert Madzokere and Clever Sibanda are now out of custody pending their trial.
They were all arrested in connection with the violence that occurred on June 14 in Nyatsime and were in custody on public violence charges.
Last month, another judge of the High Court, Justice Lucy-Anne Mungwari, threw out the application by the 14, which was brought on the basis of changed circumstances, after their lawyer skipped the bail hearing without explaining why, and the 14 simply claimed their arrest was political and the judiciary “captured”.
She had to rule that she could not determine the application on the merits because the group’s legal counsel at the time sought to experiment with a wrong procedure of circumventing the court best placed to deal with the matter. In her judgment, Justice Mungwari discredited the argument by the CCC activists that the group was being politically persecuted and that the judiciary was captured.
She was highly critical of the legal practitioner representing the group for setting down applications as an urgent matter and then not bothering to turn up in court and never explaining why, a ploy she said could have been intended to keep the matter undetermined.
The bail court is a motion court where invariably scores of legal practitioners are ever present and serious legal practitioners who get tied up elsewhere and fail to attend court for one reason or another always find it useful to instruct another legal practitioner to stand in for them and seek a postponement of their cases to other dates.
Justice Mungwari noted that the charge was admittedly the same for all of the suspects, but personal circumstances and bail statements were individualised.
This, she said, could have been dealt with individually by any judge before whom the matters would have been set down for hearing.
The suspects are alleged to be behind the burning down of the house of the late Zanu PF chairperson for Nyatsime, Cde George Murambatsvina.
They also allegedly stoned houses and broke window panes before going to Chibhanguza Shopping Centre, where they torched a gazebo, damaged windows of 13 shops, four beer halls and looted groceries and electrical appliances.
It is alleged that they also assaulted people and damaged motor vehicles. Property worth $5 800 000 was destroyed in the process, according to the State.
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