Machisa breaks down in court after fourth bail hearing postponment

Posted by on Friday, January 25, 2013 in Human Rights, Zimbabwe politics | 13 comments

Okay Machisa broke down in court on Friday

By Violet Gonda
25 January 2013

ZimRights head Okay Machisa broke down in court on Friday due to “inordinate delays” in determining his bail application, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

Machisa cried in court after High Court Judge Felistas Chatukuta postponed the bail application again to Monday, saying she had still not been furnished with the full record of the case by the Criminal Registrar.

This is the fourth time that the human rights campaigner has been denied bail since his arrest last week, on charges of voter registration fraud and forgery.

ZLHR chairperson Andrew Makoni told SW Radio Africa that bail applications are urgent matters and therefore it is “disturbing” that the High Court judge has still not been furnished with the full transcript of the records of proceeding from the lower court.

The ZLHR said in a statement that Machisa battled to come to terms with ‘his persecution’ and shed some tears as Zimbabwe Prison Service officials shackled him in leg irons.

“He later composed himself and demonstrated his fortitude by singing the lyrics ‘ini musandicheme, zvichemei nevana venyu panguva inouya muchachema’ from prominent gospel musician Charles Charamba,” the statement read.

The judge denied requests by defense lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa to stand the matter down in order to bring the Criminal Registrar to explain in court why he did not furnish the judge with the full record.

Makoni said the high court judge might not be at fault because he has to see the transcripts before he can formulate an opinion “but when the magistrate’s court is failing to furnish the High Court with a full record of the proceeding is something at this stage we cannot tolerate.”

To contact this reporter email email violet@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

  • Chimbwidos Warvets

    Quite frankly if one is a ‘crying baby’ in a court of law, then do not get involved in shady dealings. They say if you do not want the heat, you get out of the kitchen. Crying when you have been caught with your pants down, will not move the arms of justice.

  • wilbert_mukori

    This is a real nightmare! The judiciary should have been reformed and a more independend AG appointed by now. The Police, the Army, the Judicary, the media, etc. are all acting in the pre 2008 partisan manner and Okay Machsa is just one of the victims of the country’s politically biased system.

    Not only has MDC failed the nation by failing to have the reforms implemented but now these clowns are dragging the whole nation into a real dangerous election process by lying to the people that the party will still get the reforms implemented; just to get the people to approve the Copac rubbish in the referendum.

    • Chimbwido Warvet

      You are suggesting that our judiciary should have been reformed to enable the so-called human rights groups to have a field day in Zimbabwe? My understanding is that we should all enjoy our human rights to the extent that we do not violate the laws of the country. Once the laws are violated what you regard as your human rights can be taken away from you as these are not limitless. Human rights come with responsibility and are not automatic as these can be denied to those who break the laws of the land.

      You can, therefore, not convince the readership that a man who was caught with his pants down is being victimized. What a lop-sided view of a man who is supposed to be a political analyst for SW Radio Africa, a supposedly reputable news outlet. I am sorry Wilbert, that I am bound to disagree with you.

      By the way, can you name the donors who are financing the so-called human rights groups in Zimbabwe? I am fully aware they are not being funded by the government of Zimbabwe and neither are they engaged in businesses that would generate income to finance their operations and yet they are awash with money. Just be clear to us on this score and precisely tell us where they are getting funds to finance their operations in Zimbabwe.

      • wilbert_mukori

        I do not expect you to understand what is going on here.

        • Chimbwidos Warvets

          It is only because your views are Eurocentric and not Afrocentric. In other words you do not see the situation through the African/Zimbabwean eye but through the European eye. You have to change this mentality, mate.
          If you think I not aware of what is going on, then enlighten me, mate. But you have not answered for me the organisations or it countries that are funding the so-called human rights groups in Zimbabwe.

          • wilbert_mukori

            Why do you not look at what they are saying for a change. If what they are saying makes sense then address that. The right for free and fair elections is a universal right and the people should not allowed themselves to be denied this right. The NGOs are fighting for this right and therefore they are doing a great job!

            You are asking the question who is funding them to avoid dealing with the burning issue of why the people are being denying the right. This issue is not going away until it is addressed.

          • Chimbwidos Warvets

            The question is who is financing the so-called human rights groups in Zimbabwe and why? Are aware that during the last elections the MDC was given US$150million to cover its election expenses by the United States? Where in the world except in Zimbabwe has this practice been done. And can Zimbabwe finance a political party in the United States with the approval of the US government? And why in Zimbabwe can a super power finance political parties when it can not allow the same to take place in its own country. Are these not double standards of a supper power? Quite frankly, these are bullying tactics by a super power against a small nation.

          • wilbert_mukori

            The Mugabe dictatorship has forced millions of Zimbabweans into abject poverty and murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans whose only crime was they dared to exercise their democratic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. That is what we are talking about here.

            If any of these NGOs or MDC have committed any crimes then the regime should produce the evidence, put up or shut up.

            Do you reakky thing you can continue to justify the dictatorship on the pretext that anyone critical of the regime is a foreign agent? The game is over!

          • Chimbwidos Warvets

            Once again, you are avoiding to answer the questions I have posed and as usual when you are cornered you start playing silly games. Please answer the questions I have posed.

          • wilbert_mukori

            I have answer your question, if Mugabe and Zanu PF have any evidence of wrong doing in the way or source Zimrights is being funded then the should produce that evidence in a court of law instead of all these endless enuandoes.
            Mugabe and Zanu PF are guilty of mismanagement, corruption, lootong and ruthless political repression. The reason why Machsa and many others are being harassed by this regime is because it does not want them to talk about its wrong doing. accusing them of being funded by the West is a red herring, you know and I know you know it and yet you keep hammering it is because you have nowhere else to hide!
            Thank God this regime’s days are numbered; there are numbered and there is nothing Mugabe or anyone can do to stop the dawn of good governance just round the corner. Regime change is upon us!

          • Chimbwidos Warvets

            Keep on holding out for pies in the skies, young man. You and your political party have been saying this since 1996 when your foolish political party was financed to unseat the legitimate government of Zimbabwe and here we are almost twenty years, you are still singing the same chorus. Keep singing and having wet dreams, nobody is bothered by daylight dreamers.

          • wilbert_mukori

            After the sham 2008 elections Mugabe was on the hook when no one would recognise him then as “legitimately elected head of state”. He was luck he had Tsvangirai who foolishly let him off the hook when he signed the one-sided GPA. This time Mugabe will not be so lucky. Tsuro haiponi rutsva kaviri! Not even Tsvangirai will dare let Mugabe off the hook this time. This fight has only started and it is not over until Mugabe is out of power.

            The weapons are not sticks and guns he is used to but words and ideas. This is a fight for the minds of the Zimbabwean populous; the regime has done its best to brain wash the people over the years but it does not take much to get the brain fired up and asking the search questions again.

            Mugabe and you lot are in a panic because you know Tsvangirai was a walkover but know gone are the days when you could confidently expect all the millions who voted for MDC in 2008 to vote as Tsvangirai direct them in this referendum. You know that with each passing day more and more Zimbabwe are realising Tsvangirai is lying about this Copac rubbish delivering free and fair elections. And they will vote NO in the referendum!

            2013 is a very important year for Zimbabwe we will have to see which one of us is the “daylight dreamer”; you or me!
            Even with Tsvangirai unwittingly helping Mugabe and Zanu PF stay in power still the dictatorship will fall!

          • Chimbwidos Warvets

            Then let us wait and see. Since when has the press won elections? It is the people of Zimbabwe who will decide. Of course if you win, I will congratulate you. But knowing the situation on the ground unlike you who has been out of the country for donkey years and simply write what comes to your mind, the people can not be fooled by agents of foreign powers. They are fully aware of the power and control games that are being played in Zimbabwe and it will be difficult for anyone to convince them that the MDC is a better alternative. Time will tell.