Death row war vet appeals to Mugabe

By Lance Guma
10 August 2005

A war veteran who shot a policemen on a farm in Marondera and was sentenced to death has launched an appeal with Robert Mugabe for clemency. Givemore Katsande, a former army officer, launched the appeal after the Supreme Court endorsed an earlier High Court decision which granted a death warrant for the conviction. Katsande's lawyers have argued that the incident took place at the height of the chaotic farm invasions and that he shot the policemen in self defence after he brandished a pistol at him.

The courts dismissed this view earlier in the trial arguing the policemen was not armed. The policeman, Tinashe Chakwenya, was on duty at the farm belonging to Ian Kay, the MDC candidate for the parliamentary elections in 2000 and 2005. Katsande argues he thought the police wanted to evict him from the farm which he had seized from Kay. Critics point to the fact that Mugabe created the lawless environment and hence the appeal for clemency is being directed at him.