HONDE VALLEY- MDC-T chairperson for Honde Ward 30, Jacob Matsotse came out of Mutare magistrate courts a free man after local magistrate Fabien Feshete acquitted him for allegedly contravening the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
Matsotse was arrested on November 28 in Mandeya, Honde Valley and charged with contravening section 25(5) (b) of POSA for allegedly failing to notify the police of intent to hold public gathering. Prosecutors accused Matsotse for holding a political meeting without notifying the police, who are regulatory authority.
Magistrate Feshete recently acquitted Matsotse after his lawyer Blessing Nyamaropa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) applied for discharged at the close of state case.
Feshete agreed with submissions by Matsotse`s lawyers that state failed to prove that the meeting convened by villagers was not a public meeting as defined by POSA. In a related case, Rusape magistrate Taurai Manwere acquitted four Rusape residents who were arrested in July last year together with six others for allegedly assaulting and disrupting an investigative meeting that had been organised by Minister of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development, Ignatius Chombo.
Their acquittal also came after their lawyers of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights applied for their discharge at the close of state. The trial of the remaining six will continue later.
Post published in: News