Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Peter Hitschman, who was convicted of weapons charges less serious than Bennett faces, walks out of the High Court building in Harare yesterday, Thursday. The Defence is asking the judge to excuse himself from Bennett' case because he has previously presided over the bail hearing of Hitschman, in which he effectively convicted the accused before he had even been tried. Hitschman is a State witness in Bennett's trial and evidence being led by the State says he implicated Roy Bennett in the serious weapons charges he is being tried for. Harare, Zimbabwe, 13 November 2009 Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, who is presiding over the trial of MDC-T Treasurer-General Roy Bennett, has been asked by Bennett's lawyers to step aside after in emerged that he has previously denied bail to Peter Hitschman, Bennett's alleged accomplice in the weapons and terrorism charges he faces. It was not just the refusal to give Hitschman bail, though. Justice Bhunu, who denied bail before Hitschma...

UPDATE: 17 October 2009 Roy Bennett was finally released last night. He went back to court today to challenge his indictment by the State, which cam about only because he was now applying to be removed from remand. It is widely accepted at law that undue delay in giving an accused their day in court is an infringement of their rights. It appears the state is determined to persecute him come what may, as can be seen by their challenges to his application for bail. They wanted to invoke Section 121, which would have given them 7 days to file opposing papers. It would have meant that Bennett would have been locked up for those 7 days while state made up its mind on how to proceed. All this points to the fact the State has no strong case against Bennett and hence the need for more time, either just to make him suffer or to gather more of what they consider "evidence." It is a good thing Bennett is represented by one of the best lawyers in Zimbabwe and they are able to anticipate ...

The launch of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn on July 01 this year. The party, led by Dr Simba Makoni, a presidential candidate in March last year, has been denied permission to hold a march and a meeting in central  Harare by the police, even though, at law, the police have no right to ban the meeting. They have simply said that they can not provide an escort, which means there would be no one controlling traffic in the city centre. The party leadership is in meetings at the moment trying to strategise on the way forward. That is the Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert "The Solution" Mugabe for you. Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 October 2009 The police have refused to grant permission to the Mavambo. Kusile.Dawn party led by Dr Simba Makoni permission to hold a meeting scheduled for Saturday, 24 October in Harare. Makoni's party had notified the police that they would be marching through the centre of Harare on the day, culminating in a gathering at Africa Unity Square, in f...

Villagers suspected of being MDC supporters were not only thoroughly beaten up (as in the photo above, showing accused MDC supporters with broken arms), but they also had their property stolen in the confusion. Those seeking to get back what was taken from them, in the mistaken belief that their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has the power to protect them now that he is Prime Minister are themselves being arrested and tried for "disturbing the peace." 88 such MDC supporters are due to stand trial on 28 October for going to a village in Nyanga to demand the return of their property. Harare, Zimbabwe, 13 October 2009 Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have just reminded the world that the mass trial of 88 villagers in Nyanga facing extortion charges for demanding the return of their looted property from ZANU PF supporters last year will start at the end of this month. They were supposed to go on trial last month, but the Magistrate allocated the case in the mountainous and picturesqu...