HARARE – Lawyers for jailed MDC Alliance activist Makomborero Haruzivishe accused prosecutors of employing underhand tactics to keep him in jail even after the High Court ordered his release on Wednesday.
Haruzivishe has been in prison since March when a magistrate revoked his bail after he skipped court appearances, his lawyers said because he had come in contact with an individual who was positive with Covid-19.
On appeal, the Harare High Court on Wednesday quashed magistrate David Mangosi’s decision to revoke Haruzivishe’s bail.
His lawyer Simon Chabuka said they were surprised, shortly after Justice Cathrine Mzawazi’s ruling, to be advised that Haruzivishe had another kidnapping case for which he had not made bail.
Chabuka said the case was the same for which Haruzivishe’s bail was revoked and then re-instated by the High Court – accusations that he chain-locked Impala Car Rental employees inside their shop during a protest over the arrest of student leader Takudzwa Ngadziore.
Ngadziore had been beaten and detained by police for leading a protest at another Impala outlet after one of the company’s vehicles was used in the abduction and torture of student, Tawanda Muchehiwa.
“The facts, circumstances and the complainants remain the same as in the case he has secured bail for, so as his lawyers we feel it is just an unnecessary splitting of the charges yet it is still the same case,” Chabuka told ZimLive.
“We demand that he be released forthwith, but we will still file our appeal at the earliest possible opportunity.”
After his bail was revoked in March, Haruzivishe was convicted and jailed for an effective 14 months on a separate case of inciting public violence and resisting arrest in April.
In July, he secured bail pending appeal in that matter, but the earlier bail revocation in the Impala Car Rental case – which is still pending – kept him in jail.
Haruzivishe has three other outstanding cases of incitement of violence and breach of Covid-19 regulations.
