Acquitting the six last week the presiding magistrate told the court: “Judgment in such cases of violence involving a huge number of people is reached fairly after gathering statements from people who were at the scene. In this case, no eye witness or any of the complainants indicated to the court that accused number one, Nyandoro, visibly participated in the said fight. The same applies to five other accused, Samuel Kamundarira, Peter Nyadembera, Terence Matanhira, Rangeni Chingoma and Bonny Mudzimu. This court hereby finds the six not guilty and they are thus acquitted.”
During the course of the high profile trial dubbed ‘Nyandoro and 13 others,’ defence lawyer Mugove Mazanhi told the court that the violence had been ignited by various contributing non-political factors. “I put it to the court that some of the complainants were beaten up by people whom they had offended in the past. I challenge complainant Dominic Matangira, that he could have been assaulted by relatives of a fellow party cadre whose wife he had an illegitimate love affair with. The extra-marital affair appeared as first page news item on a local newspaper. The Two Boy rally could have been deemed by the aggrieved relatives as the only opportunity to settle old scores with him. Another complainant, Boniface Tagwireyi, could have been beaten up by angry villagers who felt that he short-changed them regarding distribution of Community Development Fund, CDF, products.”
The trial continues with the remaining eight accused giving their defence with the aid of eye witnesses. Observers described the Two Boy intra-party violence as in-house and a product of power struggles within MDC-T, ahead of coming party primary elections which would usher in candidates for the next harmonized elections.