HARARE – Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya has approached the High Court seeking to overturn a ruling by Harare regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa that placed him on remand for rape and fraud charges, arguing that his detention was unconstitutional.
In his court papers filed through Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, Magaya argues that he was held beyond the 48-hour limit prescribed by the constitution before being brought to court, and that magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa acted “grossly irregularly” by entertaining the state’s remand application instead of ordering his immediate release in line with Section 50(3) of the Constitution.
“The state’s concession to my over-detention removed any factual dispute,” Magaya says in his founding affidavit. “What remained was a pure question of law — whether I ought to have been released immediately as the constitution commands.”
Magaya accuses the magistrate of “abdication of duty” and of undermining constitutional protections by suggesting that his remedy lay in a civil claim for damages rather than immediate release. He argues that this interpretation “strips the constitutional guarantee of its practical force” and effectively reverts Zimbabwe to the pre-2013 constitutional regime that allowed indefinite detention.
His lawyers further argue that Gofa misapplied precedent, relying on Agripa Mloyi v The State HB 123/20, which involved a bail application by an accused already on remand, rather than the binding 2015 judgment in Panganai Davison Madondo v The State.
In that case, Justice Happias Zhou ruled that a magistrate has no jurisdiction to remand a suspect who is brought to court after being detained beyond 48 hours, declaring such detention “unconstitutional and incurably illegal.”
Justice Zhou held that Section 50(3) of the constitution is peremptory, not discretionary, and that a person detained beyond the lawful period “must be released immediately.”
Magaya’s lawyers say this precedent squarely applies to his situation and should have compelled his release.
The self-styled prophet, who faces five counts of rape and 13 counts of fraud, maintains that the charges are fabricated. He claims the Zimbabwe Gender Commission “manufactured” the rape complaints by publicly inviting women to come forward with allegations – a process he says “fundamentally undermined the credibility” of the claims.
Magaya says his arrest on November 1 was “deeply troubling,” alleging that heavily armed police officers stormed his premises at dawn while he was praying, and that he was denied access to his lawyers for more than six hours.
In his review application, Magaya warns that if such conduct is tolerated, “law enforcement agents will regard themselves as a law unto their own,” and urges the High Court to intervene to uphold constitutional rights.
He is seeking an order setting aside
Gofa’s November 4 ruling and removing him from remand on all charges.
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