Msipa was due to have handed down her ruling on whether to allow the
trial to proceed or not on 27th January but had postponed her ruling to
today, claiming that she had insufficient time to consult the law
library.
Following the defence's request for charges to be dismissed last week,
Msipa denied the request saying that if the charges had been badly
crafted the law contained cures' that could be used as the trial
proceeded. Defence lawyer, Kossam Ncube, then requested a postponement
to 26 February to be able to confer with his clients and prepare for
trial. After hearing arguments against a postponement from the state
prosecutor, Lovemore Chifamba, she requested a 15-minute adjournment to
write her ruling.
Msipa returned saying that she was confused and parroted the exact
argument used by Chifamba earlier that the trial should begin
immediately. She hardly allowed Ncube to respond, interjecting with an
emotional insistence that the trial proceed as the state was ready. She
did allow the matter to be stood down to 11:15 however.
During the adjournment the defence lodged an appeal to the High Court,
the basis of which being that Magistrate Msipa had refused to grant
them time to consider their options.
After the break, Msipa was presented with a copy of the application to
the High Court. Once again the state prosecutor weighed in and insisted
the Magistrate ignore the appeal saying that it was unprocedural and
should have been a review, not an appeal. The Magistrate ruled however
that the trial could not proceed until a ruling comes from the High
Court.
Williams and Mahlangu were then remanded to 26th February 2009, and
could end up being remanded until a ruling has been received from the
High Court.Â
WOZA is concerned that events in court today are a further indication
that in Zimbabwe justice is too often compromised upon the altar of
political agendas. It is also more evidence that the SADC-mediated
process is a farce with ZANU PF making no attempt to make concessions
in the interests of moving forward. Furthermore hours of court and
police time were wasted on a petty matter whilst more serious crimes go
ignored or unheard. Starvation in the prisons is rife and yet no
attempt is made to hear cases that could bring some relief to the dire
humanitarian crisis in the prison system. In just the short time that
WOZA was in court, 15 people were further remanded in custody without
any attempt to hear their cases. It is therefore clear why the
opposition parties insist that the office of Attorney General and
ministries of Home Affairs and Justice be in the hands of impartial
professionals.
Ends
28th January 2009
For more info, please contact Jenni Williams on +263 912 898 110 or
Magodonga Mahlangu on +263 912 362 668. Email info@wozazimbabwe.org or
visit www.wozazimbabwe.org