The long-awaited judgment for Senator Jameson Timba and 66 other Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activists has been postponed once again, with the presiding magistrate, Collet Ncube, failing to show up in court on Monday.
Instead, Magistrate Donald Ndirowei informed the court that the matter would be adjourned until Friday, November 15th, 2024.
Timba and his co-accused were arrested in June this year while commemorating the Day of the African Child in Harare.
They were denied bail on three separate occasions and have been held in detention throughout their trial. The trial concluded last month, but the activists remain incarcerated in conditions described by lawyers and human rights defenders as “inhabitable.”
One of the lawyers representing Timba and the other CCC activists, Lazarus Mbereko, expressed hope for the judgment to be delivered on Friday.
“The matter was postponed to Friday at 11:15 AM because the trial magistrate was unavailable. We hope he will be present on Friday to deliver his judgment.”
Darlington Chigumbu, the CCC Secretary for Information and Publicity, voiced the party’s disappointment over the continued delays.
“They should not be in jail in the first place. We are deeply disappointed by the drawn-out nature of this case. Justice delayed is justice denied. They know these individuals did not commit a crime, so they are punishing them. It is politically motivated.”
Chigumbu expressed hope that the judgment would finally set their colleagues free.
“We remain hopeful that on Friday, the judgment will free our colleagues so that they can go home and reconnect with their families. They have been in jail for far too long,” he said.
Chigumbu further condemned the selective application of the law, stating that the right to assembly, protected by the Zimbabwean constitution, is being criminalized.
“Zanu PF continues to hold its public meetings without being disrupted or arrested by the police,” he pointed out.
