MP Mubhawu’s bail appeal postponed till Monday

By Tererai Karimakwenda
14 July 2006

MDC MP Timothy Mubhawu, who was denied bail by a Harare magistrate on Wednesday in connection with the ongoing Mabvuku violence case, is still on remand after his appeal case was postponed till Monday. His lawyer Alex Muchadehama told us that the prosecution in the case said they needed more time to make a response. The police have implicated the 43 year-old Mabvuku legislator in the case in which Harare North MP Trudy Stevenson and 4 MDC officials were assaulted and robbed by thugs on July 2nd. They originally claimed Mubhawu owns the truck used in the attack. But they are charging him under the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, which makes it an offence to participate in a gathering with intent to provoke public violence and breach of peace.

Muchadehama told us on Friday that his client should not have been denied bail and that there is no solid evidence to warrant his detention in the first place. On the bail issue, Muchadehama said the fear that his client would abscond because he is an MDC official with connections outside the country is not well-founded because Mubhawu had gone to the police himself after they announced they were looking for him.
As for the evidence against Mubhawu, Muchadehama said there is nothing concrete to tie his client to the assault on Harare North MP Trudy Stevenson and 4 other MDC officials. He also claimed the police are using unsubstantiated claims that Mubhawu paid Z$15 million to the perpetrators and that an additional amount was paid for the rest to abscond after some had been arrested.

At least 15 MDC members have been arrested so far in this case, 9 of them still in detention. Mubhawu was charged along with Abraham Kurimakwaramba, who was remanded in custody to 26 July.
Muchadehama believes Mubhawu is not being targeted by the police as an individual. He said the whole campaign is to tarnish the image of the Tsvangirai MDC and to discredit them. MP Stevenson, who joined the Mutambara MDC after the party split into 2 camps last year, has said she was attacked by thugs who were members of the Tsvangirai MDC. However many analysts have said ZANU-PF is most likely guilty of organising the July 2nd Mabvuku assaults.