High Court dismisses Biti’s application

Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent
High Court judge Justice Never Katiyo has dismissed an urgent chamber application by Tendai Biti who wanted stay of proceedings in his assault matter which is before the Magistrates Court.

Biti is facing charges of manhandling a Zimbabwean investor Mrs Tatiana Aleshina at the Harare Magistrates Court.

In dismissing Biti’s application, Justice Katiyo indicated that the current proceedings in the Magistrates Court where he is applying for referral of his matter to the Apex Court must be allowed to continue to their conclusion

He said if Biti feels aggrieved by the outcome of that application only then should he approach the superior courts for the relief.

The assault trial resumed on Thursday with Biti claiming that Harare magistrate Mrs Vongai Muchuchuti was making biased rulings and decisions which were breaching his rights.

The CCC legislator had been making this application for the past two months and is still doing so.

For the past two months, Biti has been repeating what he had been saying in this application.

He is claiming that the court has persistently abused his constitutional rights.

“Some of the rulings being made by this court are an insult to my constitutional rights,” he said.
The matter was deferred to September 15 for continuation.

Biti recently told the court that he was surprised why his matter was moved from the provincial to the regional court.

“I was shocked about three things. My matter was taken from the provincial court to the regional court under unclear grounds,” he said.

Biti said his matter was taken from Court 3 to the Anti-corruption Court also under unclear circumstances.

“I was also shocked why my matter was taken away from Court 3 to be handled by a senior magistrate Mr Micheal Reza, who is Deputy Prosecutor General,” he said.

During the previous sitting Mr Reza also informed the court that Biti’s application for recusal of the magistrate was not procedural, and lacked merit.

Mr Reza put it to Biti during cross examination that he abandoned his application for referral of the matter to the Constitutional Court after the court ruled that his matter be heard on a daily basis to ensure progress.

In his response, Biti alleged that the ruling by the court affected his constitutional rights, and he did not want anyone to take away the rights he was given by the constitution.

Mr Reza further informed Biti that if he had any reservations with the court’s ruling, he should have appealed to the superior courts rather than applying for the magistrate’s recusal.

However, Biti insisted that he wanted Mrs Muchuchuti to recuse herself, further alleging that they are protagonists, a position that was dismissed by today’s ruling.

In her ruling to hear the matter on a daily basis, Mrs Muchuchuti highlighted that Biti’s application for referral of the matter to the Apex Court started on May 27, and up to date, the application is yet to conclude.

She said she needs to dispose of this matter within a reasonable timeframe, hence the
adoption of interventions where the matter will be heard daily with immediate effect.

The Magistrate further reiterated that the accused should be reminded that he is the accused in this matter and should give it priority over other matters.

“With the rate we are managing this case it means the accused will need another two months to finish his application,” she said. Muchuchuti.