EIGHT WOZA members and two lawyers appeared in Harare Magistrate’s Court today, 28th April. Although due to appear on trial, the State did not have its house in order for the trial to proceed so the magistrate removed the activists off remand. The State will have to proceed by way of summons if they still wish to do so. The group of 10 were arrested on 10th February after an early Valentine’s Day protest in Harare. They were facing charges under Section 37 1 a i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act – ‘disturbing the peace, security or order of the public’. They were represented by Andrew Makoni.
In another matter, five members arrested on 25 February outside the Ministry of Education, the Education ‘Five’, appeared in Harare Magistrate’s Court on 19th March and were remanded out of custody to Monday 4th May. Their lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, will apply for them to be removed off remand if the State is not ready to proceed to trial on this date. They face the same charges of disturbing the peace, security or order of the public.
In the third WOZA matter before the courts, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will appear before Magistrate Charity Msipa in the Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court on Thursday 30th April.
The matter was last heard on 18th March when defence lawyer, Kossam Ncube, indicated that he would be taking a direct application to the Supreme Court. The magistrate had thrown out an earlier request to apply to the Supreme Court saying the application was frivolous and vexatious and that the trial should proceed immediately. (For a copy of the full ruling, see the Legal Documents folder to the right) Under a separate clause of the Constitution, Section 24 (1), applicants can apply directly to the Supreme Court if they feel that they are still aggrieved. This was subsequently done. (The text of the two applications can also be found in the Legal Documents folder to the right)
The Supreme Court has yet to allocate the urgent application to a judge as they are all said to be on leave.
It is difficult to predict what will occur Thursday as Magistrate Msipa has previously ignored appeals to higher courts and had disallowed the first Supreme Court application. Williams and Mahlangu face a possible five years in custody if convicted.