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Zimbabwean activists granted bail – again
By Violet Gonda
6 May 2009
The political and human rights activists who were re-arrested on Tuesday were freed on bail Wednesday. The bail request was approved by the same Magistrate who had refused to entertain it the day before. In this surprise u-turn, Magistrate Catherine Chimhanda reversed her earlier decision following an agreement with the legal teams. This clearly shows how Mugabe continues to control the rule of law in Zimbabwe as it is believed the Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, consented to the bail as a result of a meeting between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara late Tuesday.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, James Maridadi, told SW Radio Africa that the Principals agreed in the spirit of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that the bail conditions that were in place before the activists were re-arrested should be re-instated. He said they also summoned Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and asked him to implement what they had agreed. Maridadi quoted the GPA, saying ‘people should be free of political persecution and discrimination of any kind.’
Defence lawyer Charles Kwaramba said they had filed a High Court bail application on Tuesday and were ready to go and argue the matter when they were told that the Attorney General wanted to discuss the matter on Wednesday. The AG agreed to consent to bail and to stick to the original bail conditions.
Kwaramba also clarified that there were actually 16 activists, including Jestina Mukoko, who had been formally charged on Monday with an alleged plot to overthrow Robert Mugabe – not 18 as previously reported.
After their abduction and incarceration at the end of last year they had been held incommunicado for many months. They were first released on bail two months ago. The lawyer said after their re-arrest on Tuesday, 13 were released from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, except for journalist Shadreck Manyere and MDC officials Gandhi Mudzingwa and Chris Dhlamini, who are still being held in police custody in hospital. An application for their bail has been filed in the High Court and the matter is supposed to be heard on Thursday.
Analysts say the re-arrest and sudden freeing of the activists merely shows that ZANU PF continues to play ‘games’ to distract everyone from the critical issues that continue to negatively affect the unity government. Sadly this is happening at the expense of the accused persons, who the MDC say face trumped up charges. On the surface it would appear that Mugabe is giving ground on the issue of political detainees, but if he was working in the spirit of the inclusive government the charges against the ‘political detainees’ would have been totally dropped.
One SW Radio Africa listener asked: “If these individuals are accused of trying to topple Mugabe were they doing it for their own benefit? If they were doing it for the MDC then is the MDC also being indicted? What purpose is this serving if these persecutions serve to undermine the mirage we thought was a unity government?”
The political intervention in a legal matter continues to raise more awkward questions, as both the detentions and the release, twice, on bail were politically motivated. Lawyers say this is a serious indictment on the justice system as they are forced to rely on the ‘charity of politicians’ to ask for bail.
Kwaramba said: “What it means is that politicians can hold accused persons at ransom when they think they want to bargain on the political level. It’s very bad and people lose confidence in the courts.”
The lawyer went on to say: “The decisions are made politically and then you try to implement them in court. We really don’t like this as lawyers.”
Those indicted are:
1. Jestina Mukoko
2 Concilia Chinanzvavana
3. Manuel Chinanzvavana
4. Violet Mupfuranhewa
5. Collen Mutemagawo
6. Kieta Kaseke
7. Audrey Zimbudzana
8. Broderick Takawira
9. Mapfumo Garutsa
10. Regis Mujeyi
11. Zacharia Nkomo
12. Chinoto Zulu
13. Fidelis Chiramba
14. Gandhi Mudzingwa
15. Chris Dlamini
16. Shadreck Andrison Manyere
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