OVER a dozen activists were in the past few days released from prison on bail after spending several weeks in pretrial detention charged with plotting anti-government protests ahead of and during the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit held in Mt Hampden in August.
The release of the activists comes barely a month after Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa said there was no reason to continue detaining the activists after the summit, which saw President Emmerson Mnangagwa assuming chairmanship of the regional bloc.
More than 160 opposition activists and human rights defenders were arrested and denied bail in the lead-up to the Sadc summit.
Yesterday, activists Namatai Kwekweza, Robson Chere and Samuel Gwenzi, who spent 35 days in remand prison, were granted US$150 bail each by the High Court.
They were ordered to report every last Friday of the month.
They were ejected from a plane at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on their way to Victoria Falls and charged with disorderly conduct.
The trio was accused of participating in a protest at the Harare Magistrates Court in solidarity with 78 members of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
Harare magistrate Collet Ncube also acquitted 12 of the 78 CCC activists accused of attending an unlawful gathering at the residence of senior party official Jameson Timba in Avondale, Harare, in June with the intention of plotting anti-government protests.
- Sadc meets over water, energy and food security
- 5 Zim cops off to South Sudan
- Opposition loses hope on reforms
- Chinese tile maker fights taxes in Zim and Zambia
Keep Reading
They were arrested on June 16.
Timba and 65 other activists, however, remain behind bars on the same charges.
The activists, however, claimed that they were arrested while celebrating the Day of the African Child.
In Kariba, the High Court on Monday ended the detention of 14 residents who had spent over a month in remand prison for allegedly staging an anti-government protest in the Mashonaland West province capital.
The 14 had spent 33 days in prison after they were arrested in July 2024 in that town.
As part of their bail conditions, they were ordered to pay US$100, report once fortnightly at a police station in Kariba and to continue residing at their given addresses and surrender their passports.
The High Court also set free CCC candidate in the disputed August 2023 elections Tineyi Munetsi.
Munetsi, who contested for the Goromonzi West constituency seat, was arrested on August 3 for allegedly participating in an anti-government protest five years ago.
He was granted US$500 bail by High Court judges Justices Annie-Lucy Mungwari and Joel Mambara after they set aside Mbare magistrate Rangarirayi Gakanje’s decision to deny him bail on August 10, 2024.
He will return to court on September 6, 2024.
CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi yesterday welcomed the release of party members and other pro-democracy activists.
“Something needs to be done to transform and restore confidence and credibility in Zimbabwe’s judicial system and other key institutions of government that are captured and being abused and exploited by the regime,” he said.
“We condemn the needless prolongation of Timba and others’ detention on flimsy and frivolous grounds.
“We cannot continue to have court judgments that are churned out and dictated from the Shake Shake [Zanu PF] building.”
Shake Shake is the nickname given to the Zanu PF party headquarters, which resembles the Shake Shake beer container.
In an address at a Press conference last month, Mutsvangwa said the arrests were justified.
“It was essential to ensure that nothing detracted from the summit’s importance. Zimbabwe needed to present itself as a stable and secure nation to our Sadc partners,” he said.
“So if you are a deviate, you are going to be dealt with in the right way, which is to put you in jail so that you don’t create a sideshow which takes the attention away from the event.”
Information minister Jenfan Muswere later issued a statement distancing government and Zanu PF from the arrest of the activists, but observers said Mutsvangwa had already let the cat out of the bag.
Observers, pro-democracy groups and the opposition said Mutsvangwa’s statement betrayed the abuse of State power and weaponisation of the law against critics by the ruling party.
