But more than two months after that statement his Director of Security,
his former personal assistant and a freelance journalist are still in
police custody, over what are clearly trumped up political charges.
While the MDC has tried very hard to accommodate ZANU PF, calling for
the removal of targeted sanctions against the Mugabe regime and other
supportive measures, ZANU PF seems not to have moved an inch since the
formation of the inclusive government. Robert Mugabe continues to make
unilateral decisions, such as the appointment of permanent secretaries
and the recent changes he's made to Nelson Chamisa's information
ministry.
Despite the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC)
trying to persuade the authorities not to oppose bail for the three
accused persons, the State went ahead and opposed bail, on the very day
that it was granted to the detainees by the High Court last Thursday.
On Tuesday the State – represented by the Attorney General's office –
went ahead and filed an urgent High Court application to formally
appeal against the court's decision to grant bail.
MDC senior officials Gandhi Mudzingwa and Chris Dhlamini, plus
freelance journalist Shadreck Manyere, remain in police custody after
the AG's offices invoked a section of the draconian Criminal Procedures
and Evidence Act, to ensure that bail would be blocked.
The legal team now awaits a decision by the same judge who granted
bail, to see if the State will be allowed to appeal this in the Supreme
Court. If the judge does grant the prosecution team permission to
appeal, the State then has seven days to lodge the appeal in the
Supreme Court. If the judge refuses the State can still approach the
Supreme Court direct, to ask for leave to appeal.
Defence lawyer Charles Kwaramba said if the seven days elapsed without
any movement by the State the accused persons become entitled to be
released. But this is a game that ZANU PF has a lot of practice with
and that is unlikely to happen.
The three, who are being accused of plotting to destabilise the Mugabe
regime, have been in police custody since December. Several of their
co-accused are already out on bail, but they remained in custody after
the State claimed they were found with dangerous weapons. They deny
this and accuse state agents of torture, after they were abducted at
gunpoint.
They sustained serious injuries, which resulted in Mudzingwa and
Dhlamini being hospitalised under police guard at the Avenues Clinic,
while Manyere is still being held in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.
Many hoped that the inclusive government would provide the environment
in which the political rivals would adopt common goals and
responsibilities, but the AG's dogged determination to keep the MDC
officials and journalist in detention highlights ZANU PF's lack of
sincerity over the unity agreement.
It also puts the MDC leadership into an extremely difficult position.
The Zimbabwe Times editor and veteran journalist, Geoff Nyarota, wrote
this week: What must be the cause of Tsvangirai tormented state of
mind is his realisation that since February 11 he, in fact, has become
part of the state machinery that now prosecutes and persecutes a former
aide who, according to him, is innocent. As the second most senior
functionary in the government of national unity which now torments
Mudzingwa, Tsvangirai cannot entirely escape liability for any
punishment that Mudzingwa continues to endure through what many view as
malicious denial of due legal process by the State.
If the matter remains unresolved the continued incarceration of
Mudzingwa, without bail or fair treatment, could fast become
Tsvangirai's Achilles' heel. It has potential to discredit him in the
short term, while undermining his political career in the long term.
Mugabe is obviously aware of the adverse implications of the Mudzingwa
case on Tsvangirai
SWRadio Africa
Post published in: Politics