Court denies bail to alleged bombers
December 31, 2008
Jestina Mukoko is led to court last week.
By Our Correspondent
HARARE – A Harare magistrate on Wednesday denied bail to five Zimbabwean opposition officials accused of bombing police stations and 11 others who face charges of attempting to overthrow President Mugabe.
Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe denied bail to the five who were facing charges of terrorism, sabotage and malicious damage to property at the Rotten Row Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The five are Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members. They include Emmanuel Dlamini, a former police superintendent, who is also the MDC’s head of security and intelligence and Gandi Mudzingwa, a former personal adviser to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Photojournalist Shadreck Manyere is part of the group accused of bombing the police stations.
They are accused of committing the acts of bombing at the Harare Central Police Station on road and a railroad bridges in August, as well as the November bombings of the criminal investigation department’s headquarters in Harare and the police station.
The State alleges that the accused sneaked into Harare central police station on August 2 and used explosives to blow up a kitchen.
The prosecution also claims the accused detonated two bombs which blew up 60cm of a rail track at Norton, near Harare , on August 21.
They were also reportedly accused of blowing up a men’s toilet near the Harare headquarters of the criminal investigations department on November 17.
The State alleges that investigations of the attacks have led to plastic explosives being recovered from Dlamini’s home. He was abducted by nine gunmen.
The MDC has dismissed any suggestion that the party was involved in any of the bombings, saying it remained committed to a process of democratic change.
Eleven others, including rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who went missing for three weeks before being brought to court last week, were also denied bail in a case in which they are accused of plotting to topple President Mugabe by recruiting and training MDC insurgents in neighbouring Botswana.
For weeks, officials in Mugabe’s government have been trying to build the case that Botswana , Mugabe’s most outspoken critic in the region, has allowed the MDC to train people on its soil to topple him – a charge Botswana has vociferously denied.
The defence team argues that state security agents tortured the accused activists to extract false, videotaped confessions as part of Mugabe’s attempt to make a case against Botswana and the opposition with the Southern African Development Community, a 15-nation bloc that is mediating the Zimbabwe crisis.
The political detainees were in leg irons and handcuffs and khaki prison garb as they appeared at the Rotten Row magistrate court. They all looked dishevelled and tired.
One of the activists, the mother of a two-year old, was in leg irons, too, but wore no handcuffs as she appeared in court while holding her baby.
Magistrate Guvamombe did not rule on the merits of the charges against the activists, but said they should remain in custody pending a Supreme Court hearing on their case.
“This matter remains to be decided in the Supreme Court and the accused cannot be released,” he said.
Mukoko, a former State TV news anchor now heading a faith-based human rights group, was forcibly abducted by 15 gunmen from her home in Norton, a small town on the outskirts of Harare on December 4.
The police had initially denied they were holding Mukoko, who later surfaced at Matapi Police Station on Christmas Eve.
The lawyers for Mukoko, 54, and her co-accused, have asked the court not to proceed to trial because police were in contempt of a court order to release their clients into hospital. The order for the immediate release of Mukoko and 31 opposition activists was issued by High Court judge Yunus Omerjee last Wednesday.
Mukoko heads a rights group, Zimbabwe Peace Project, ZPP, which has been regularly exposing human rights violations by Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and abuse of power in the Zimbabwean security forces in monthly human rights reports.
ZPP is an organisation involved in monitoring and documenting human rights abuses across Zimbabwe.
Two of Mukoko’s colleagues were seized a week later from their offices.
The MDC activists were abducted on different occasions going back to October when the parents of a two-year-old child were seized and comprise mainly the opposition executive in Zvimba, President Mugabe’s rural home.
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This smacks of a setup. if anyone can bomb the central police station, with dozens of policemen around, then how safe are we in our homes. the logical conclusion is that the police are daft, being bombed twice by the same people!!!!
Its a shame really that we now again and as usual have been diverted to focus on tramped up charges and instead of core issues that are affecting the Zimbabweans. Who can honestly believe that they posses “weapons of mass distruction” as painted by Zanu and its partisan judiciary. We all know that they are and were butchered into submission what can you expect when you tortured the whole night for days over allegations initiated by the CIOs selling the ideas to the vulnerable Zimbabweans. God bless Zimbabwe and deliver us from this devil.
In June/July Judges and other high ranking Court Officials received new Mercedes Benz, Plasma TV, Villas, etc. from Mugabe.
A few weeks ago Mugabe was at the Midlands University in Gweru to officiate at the graduation ceremony in his capacity as the Chancellor (no less- he is the Chancellor of all the Universities that have mushroomed all over the country). The institution itself has but closed after years of under funding; lecturers have been on strike demanding living salaries, students have been on strike for everything from high fees to subhuman facilities offered; a very familiar story at all the other universities, colleges and schools. The rot is not confined to education but everything else Mugabe has touched; health, state-owned companies right down to the seized former white-owned farms.
But to go back to the Midlands University; Mugabe reported brought with him a number of new cars. Presents to the few top ranking University officials. Throughout the campaign for the 29 March and the 27 June elections Mugabe was giving out tractors, buses, ploughs, etc.
The country is so impoverished it can not afford to buy the necessary kit to treat drinking water or those with Cholera. It has to rely on outside help. And yet its President continues to spend millions in bribes for Judges, University Heads, right down to the village head! Admittedly, the bribes are working; all these officials continue to delivery exactly what Mugabe asks of them.
A High Court Judge had ruled that Ms J Mukoko and her co-accused should be released into hospital. The Police, in contempt of the High Court, refused and now a Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe too is in contempt of the High Court. Mugabe must be very pleased indeed; he has dished out bribes right, left and centre and he has reaped the rewards ten fold every time!
Even now when everything round Mugabe is crumpling there are still people like Guvamombe, Chief Superintendent Chrispen Makedenge- reportedly the brains behind the recent political abductions (ZT 23/12)- and thousands of others still willing doing Mugabe’s biding. So each time the nation takes a step forward these sell-outs force us to take two or three steps back. All those who received gifts from Mugabe ranging from the cronies now the proud owners of the commercial farms to the Village Head who received a plough must be subjected to a thorough investigation to establish what Mugabe received in return.
Whatever Mugabe has been giving away as bribes, it was from money that by right should have been used to fund public health and buy drugs for children. The recipients have helped prolong this injustice for selfish reasons. When Mugabe finally goes- his days are numbered, he has sold all the nation’s jewels there is nothing more to give away as bribes- why should the sell-outs be allowed to keep their ill got wealth? The likes of Guvamombe and Makedenge should spend time in Chikurumbi- the place they have been so keen to sent Mukoko and others.
Robert Mugabe and his dogs of war at it again. They falsely accused Joshua Nkomo of having weapons that they themselves planted. Then they lied that Ndabaningi Sithole was training a terrorist group called Chimwenje in the 80’s and later they said he wanted to kill Mugabe. They said the same of Roy Bennett after they realised his imprison after punching Chinamasa had made him stronger. They lied that the killers wanted to spill oil at Christmas Pass so that Mugabe’s car would skid. What a silly story. He saw through their plans and escaped. They said the same of Tsvangirai before they were exposed as liers. Now Mugabe is at it again. Trying to force the MDC into a unity government by abducting his supporters, cooking up stories and trying to find a reason to arrest its leaders if the GNU does not happen. The MDC should hold firm and demand that all outstanding issues be resolved.
Blowing up a kitchen in a police station? Somebody didn’t like the food? Who runs this place, Mr Bean? Another scenario worthy of a ‘Monty Python’ comedy sketch. When are the Zanu PF leaders going to realise that nobody can take any of their stories seriously. Unfortunately some Zanu PF smart aleck will probably make a fortune selling the TV rights of “ZanuPF – the wonder years” to a comedy channel.
All this is a serious reflection of a total breakdown of law and order. It is clear that magistrates and judges must consult the illegal administration before arriving at ‘verdicts’. I have never heard of a lower court (anywhere in the world, including Somalia) modifying (varying, in legal speak) an order made by a higher court. Cry the beloved country.
When it comes to legal matters I am as blind as a mole,but on commonsense I can claim my place in the sun.Possibly the activists and the Zim Peace Project workers could be “terrorists” WHAT ABOUT TWO-YEAR OLD NIGEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????Surely what has become of this world? Mtasa are you a parent? I hope all you angels of evil are aware you are not jostling with anybody for your place in HADES, the hottest place in hell.Have you designed prison garb for infants? This stands not within prospect of belief. Our God is a forgiving father but certainly He will never forgive ZANU,Mugabe and all those involved in these satanic acts against mankind.
Nigel’s mother is insisting on remaining with her son whilst in custody. Nigel is not under arrest. It is his mother who is under arrest. Of course everyone knows that Nigel is not a suspect. He is not legally fit to be tried because he belongs to a class of people who are considered to be legally incapable of being responsible. Other types of people belonging to this class are: people who suffer from a disease of the mind, drunken individuals and children.
The Nigel issue appears to be an unfortunate tactic on the part of the mother aimed at applying undue pressure on the authorities with a view to creating as much drama as possible hoping that she may be sent home on account of the child. The suspect could have left Nigel with relatives; we Africans have communal type of culture such that it would not be difficult to find a relative, friend, neighbor, or even a domestic worker to look after the child whilst she is conducting her court case.
You have no humanity in you Norman Ngwenya. You are one of those blood-sucking Zanu PF sycophants who are committed without any good cause in promoting and protecting the obscenities of those thugs who go about kidnapping innocent Zimbabweans.
It is now common knowledge Ngwenya especially with readers of this web site that you are intellectually weak and incompetent to lecture Zimbabweans on legal matters. Since you are so badly brainwashed by Zanu PF how can you ever distinguish between what is criminal and what is proper. Are you suggesting which I am sure you are that it is proper for an innocent mother to be incarcerated with her two year old. This inhuman behaviour is typical of a repressive regime such as Zanu PF who have no shame and in my view most un African
Guvamombe is a Zanu PF magistrate. He covered Gono’s tracks in the Flatwater saga and got a tractor for it. He got a twin cab from Reserve Bank when he is not supposed to get them.They were meant for Regional Magistrates.
He is a Zanu Pf apologist.Period.
MDC must examine his role in all court cases.