Court throws out freedom bid by detained MDC activists

By Lance Guma
18 June 2007

Several MDC activists who have been in detention for over 2 months on trumped up terrorism charges had their bid for freedom blocked by a Harare magistrate on Friday last week. Glen View legislator Paul Madzore and 12 others had an application to have the case thrown out refused by magistrate Gloria Takundwa. On Monday the same thing happened when Raymond Bake, a coordinator with the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), also had his application thrown out. The magistrates on both occasions argued there was reasonable suspicion the accused committed the offences and so they could not throw out the case. Madzore and the other 12 were remanded to the 29th June.

Defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama has had a frustrating time handling the cases. Not only are the applications being handled separately, he has had to process both bail and refusal of remand applications at different intervals in both the Magistrates and High Courts. On Tuesday he will be back at the High Court trying to argue for his clients to be granted bail. The state case has been falling apart bit by bit and a number of activists were released following the dropping of charges by police. Mugabe’s regime is accused of launching a deliberate crackdown on the opposition in an attempt to weaken it ahead of scheduled elections in 2008.

Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Power Company, who employ one of the MDC activists in detention Morgan Komichi, are making frantic attempts to fire him on allegations of absenteeism. Komichi is an instrument technician at the Munyati Power Station and has been locked up in remand prison for over two months. The ZPC insist he should attend a disciplinary hearing to answer the allegations. The MDC official is however reported to be battling for his life and is in a prison hospital. The ZPC however told his lawyers the hearings would proceed even in his absence.