This story was first reported by the Zimbabwe Times.
HARARE – Embattled MDC transport manager Pasco Gwezere was granted bail Friday afternoon but shall remain in jail for the next seven days as the State invoked Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act which automatically bars the effect of the ruling.
High Court Judge Charles Hungwe ordered Gwezere to deposit US$500 with the Clerk of Court in Harare and remain residing at his given address – 74 Murara Road in Mufakose, Harare.
He was further ordered to report twice a week on Mondays and Fridays between 6 am and 4 pm at Harare Central Police’s CID Law and Order Division and not to interfere with evidence and witnesses.
In granting him bail, Justice Hungwe said the state had failed to demonstrate that the accused was a flight risk.
Gwezere is being accused of ganging up with a woman only identified as Getrude to steal 21 firearms from the Zimbabwe National Army’s Pomona Barracks on October 20 this year.
The State said since the firearms had been recovered, it now had a stronger case against Gwezere, who strongly denies the charges.
In his application for bail, Gwezere said he works for MDC, earning US$400 a month and has been residing at his address for all his life.
He further said he was being accused of a crime for the first time in his life and that he had no prospects of travelling outside the country as his passport expired two months ago and has not yet applied for a renewal.
On the other hand, the state had submitted that evidence against Gwezere was strengthening after four more army officers have been arrested in relationship to the matter and are implicating Gwezere.
Tawanda Zvekare, who represented the state, further claimed the accused was facing a very serious charge.
The State further called the investigating officer in the matter who said that he was still looking for Gwezere’s other accomplices and if he was released, he may jeopardise investigations.
But Justice Hungwe dismissed the state’s assertions which he said were not enough to cause him to deny the accused his right to liberty.
“The state has failed to satisfy its claim that the accused would abscond if released or that he would interfere with investigations,” said Hungwe.
“The state has failed to establish how the interests of justice would be prejudiced if released on bail.
“In my view, the applicant is entitled to his liberty for the moment until the matter is tried. The evidence against the applicant is tenuous.
“There is no sound reason to justify the continued incarceration of the applicant and therefore bail is granted.”
Soon after pronouncing his ruling, Zvekare stood up to invoke the controversial Section 121.
In between the seven days, the state is required to lodge an appeal against the judgement, failure to which the accused would be released on bail as granted.
Alec Muchadehama, lawyer to Gwezere said the invocation of Section 21 was a “total abuse of the law” in that the state has selectively been using it against known opponents to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
“It is a total abuse of that section. This has been used as far back as 2000 to simply harass MDC activists so that even when the courts do the correct thing in granting them bail, the state simply invokes that section so that they continue to suffer,” said Muchadehama.
“Everyone now knows that there is selective application not only of Section 121 but of the law itself led by the Attorney General.”
Gwezere was seized from is Mufakose home on October 27, 2009 and detained at Marimba Police Station. He was later transported blindfolded to Harare Central police station where police and state security agents took turns to assault him.
The MDC says charges against its employee are trumped up and are part of a broad strategy by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party to destabilise it and render it too weak to continue challenging Mugabe’s stranglehold on power.
What baffles me is that this government is supposed to be a power sharing arrangement but one party is stubbornly dictating terms and is openly undermining the other parties in the GNU. People from one party continue to suffer brutal assaults from the so called “state security agents”– are they really serving the interests of the nation or ZanuPF? For how long are people going to continue to bear the brunt of this tyranny – all in the name of GNU?
Mugabe is now a puppet of South Africa. RSA knows that he wants control so they are using him to destabilize Zimbabwe thus making South Africa more powerful. South Africa has plans to be an African Superpower, the best way to do that is to destabilise as many surrounding nations as possible economically. In the end all SADC countries will look up to RSA, that is the catch. Apatheid RSA weakened surrounding nations militarily but the political game is the same.
@ Dzimai Moto.
You maybe correct but I am not going to lay Zimbabwe’s problem on SA. Zanu pf is the main culprits and right now the MDC is goin in the same direction. What is it they are waiting for??? ZANU will never give in to the GNU. So what is it really that they expect ZANU to do?? Wait till they kill us all. If they can do that to MPs and Top MDC officials what more can we say about the ordinary people??? Who will protect them from their own government???
We read articles like this but some morons think there is sharing of power and Mugabe has lost a grip on power. Mugabe is like a bobojan spanner.He is very much in control,unfortunately, contrary to some cheerleaders on the forum. There is no benefit whatsoever to SA to stabilise Zim economically by having a newer gvt. Zim is very much a market of SA goods and a source of cheap labour. How someone thinks Zuma would want to solve Zim problem and lose the market and the slaves in SA who we see getting smacked by South Africans in the western Cape baffles me.The White people of South Africa who for all intense and purposes control the SA economy, have never hidden their opinions. They say Zimbabweans are cheaper and more obedient and harder working than the South Africans and therefore employ them instead. Thats why you see the Zimbabweans being beaten up. This status quo in Zim must therefore be maintained.Every major company in South Africa boasts of several Zimbabweans in their management, Black or white and I wonder if anyone really wants to disturb that. Zuma’s challenge is to avoid a war erupting in Zimbabwe and the best way of doing this is to pretend that he is now on Morgan’s camp and give the buffon false hope. Nothing could be further from the truth.So Dzimai moto, you are partially correct except for the puppet part. Mugabe is not the type of person to be a puppet.He is getting what he wants,POWER and Zuma is getting what he wants,Regional POWER.