The High Court orders were issued to Mohadi, Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, the Officer Commanding the
Homicide Section of the Criminal Investigations Department, Chrispen
Makedenge and the investigating officer, one Detective Constable Muhuya.
According to the Zimbabwe Times, the Magistrates Court had earlier
expressed dissatisfaction over the defiance by the police, who failed
to produce the twelve in court.
Defence lawyers then approached the High Court seeking an order to declare the continued detention of the MDC activists illegal.
The Zimbabwe Times says that the 12 were on October 30 seized by state
security agents in Banket, Mashonaland West province. The State agents
raided the homes of the MDC leadership and arrested the MDC members,
including a two-year-old girl.
During the arrests, police are said to have seized property including a
computer and official party documents at the home of MDC’s national
executive member, Concilia Chinanzvavana.
She and her husband, Emmanuel, an elected councillor in Banket, are
alleged to be among the 12 MDC activists who received military training
in Botswana.
Others are MDC Ward 22 councillor, Fidelis Chiramba, the losing
candidate in senatorial election for Zvimba, Fani Tembo; ward
coordinator Lloyd Tambwa, as well as MDC activists Fidelis Musona and
Ernest Mudimu. Other MDC activists being held incommunicado are Jerry
Musona, Fanuel Tembo, Theater Kaseke, and one other identified only as
Mutendagawi.
The Zimbabwe Times quoted a source saying the 12 were transferred from
Banket to Harare and were initially held at Mabelreign Police Station
before they were moved to Avondale Police Station.
They were then released into the custody of Makedenge, who has moved them to an unknown location.
They are being charged with treason under the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly undergoing training in
banditry, which carries life imprisonment if convicted. The 12 are
being charged under a clause that reads: “Any person who attends or
undergoes any course of training, whether inside or outside Zimbabwe,
for the purpose of enabling him or her to commit any act of insurgency,
banditry, sabotage or terrorism in Zimbabwe shall be guilty of training
as an insurgent, bandit, saboteur or terrorist and liable to
imprisonment for life or any shorter period.”
The officials and activists are accused of being part of a team sent by
the MDC to Botswana to receive training in sabotage, terrorism and
banditry.
Botswana has angrily rejected the charges, and invited a fact-finding
mission to prove the allegations, provoking a diplomatic tiff between
Harare and Gaborone.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party alleges that the MDC was
plotting acts of banditry to destabilise government and oust the
veteran leader.
Justice Hungwe on Tuesday ordered Mohadi, Chihuri, Makedenge and
Muhuya, who claimed they were not aware of the whereabouts of the
accused in opposing affidavits, to utilize all sources including the
CID and other private informers, at their disposal to locate the 12
detainees immediately.
Hungwe declared the continued detention of the 12 beyond 96 hours was
blatantly illegal and contemptuous of the High Court; he said the
officers were overstepping their bounds.
The defence team stated that there was mounting apprehension that the
12 could have been harmed or even murdered. Hungwe said the allegation
against the activists was alarming and required the serious attention
of the police officers concerned.
Police officials presented a daily progress report of their efforts to date, including searches of various places for the 12.
Hungwe’s order compels the respondents and the police intelligence
agency, the PISI Unit, to establish the whereabouts of the detainees
and inform the court. The court order also directed the police officers
and other respondents to protect the lives and rights of the detainees.
The MDC has denied the banditry charges and also rejected claims by
Zanu-PF lead negotiator at the talks, Patrick Chinamasa, that Western
intelligence services in collusion with the Botswana government were
attempting to transform Tsvangirai into a warlord like the late Angolan
rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi.
by Sunday Standard Reporter