Human rights activists Robson Chere, Namatai Kwekweza, Samuel Gwenzi, and Vusumuzi Moyo will endure more jail time after their bail hearing was delayed on Monday.
The four are accused of disorderly conduct after allegedly holding protests against the continued detention of interim Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Jameson Timba and 78 other party activists last month.
Their bail hearing was expected to commence at 11:15 am on Monday but was postponed until the afternoon after Moyo hired a new lawyer who needed time to familiarize himself with the case.
The lawyer was not ready when the matter resumed, resulting in Moyo being remanded in custody until Wednesday for his bail application. The case then continued with the state opposing bail for the other three activists.
Anesu Chirenje, representing the state, called the first witness, investigating officer Willard Banala, who argued that the three should remain in jail.
Banala stated that Chere has pending cases and that the three are flight risks due to their connections outside Zimbabwe.
“The accused persons have interests outside the country, and we are afraid they will flee from this country’s jurisdiction. Chere has other pending cases before the court. He is on bail. We have not yet verified the addresses of the accused persons,” Banala said.
Banala added that they need three days to verify the activists’ addresses. “You will note that Kwekweza was in Germany recently, so she has interests outside Zimbabwe,” he added.
The state applied for a postponement to Tuesday, arguing that prison wardens need to return the prisoners to jail safely. Although this did not sit well with the defense lawyers, they consented to the postponement.
In an interview with journalists, one of the defense lawyers, Jeremiah Bamu, accused the state of buying time to punish their clients.
“You will note that whenever we start these court proceedings, the prosecutors take endless hours rambling over worthless submissions to delay time. They only start bail proceedings when we have less than 30 minutes left. This is a delaying tactic; they treat this as a game. They simply want to prolong the suffering of the applicants,” he said.
The hearing continues on Tuesday at 11:15 am.
