MDC youth leader Chidziva acquitted

By The NewsDay | Feb. 21, 2019 | 1 Min read

Gweru provincial magistrate Charity Maphosa on Tuesday acquitted MDC youth leader and Highfield West legislator, Happymore Chidziva, who was being accused of inciting violence in the run-up to last year’s elections.

BY Stephen Chadenga

In acquitting Chidziva, Maphosa ruled that the State had failed to provide enough evidence to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

In their submissions last week, Chidziva’s lawyers, Jeremiah Bhamu and Brian Dube, indicated that they were making an application for discharge because the State had failed to prove a prima facie case against their client.

Chidziva had been charged with inciting violence after he allegedly threatened President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) with unspecified action at a rally at Mkoba Stadium ahead of last year’s July 30 polls.

Allegations against Chidziva were that on July 22 last year, at a rally in Mkoba, Gweru, he warned then Zanu PF presidential candidate, Mnangagwa and Zec of dire consequences if election results did not favour MDC Alliance presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa.

Chamisa eventually lost the polls to Mnangagwa as well as an appeal at the Constitutional Court.

Meanwhile, Maphosa remanded to February 27 and March 5, respectively, two cases in which Chiwundura MP Livingstone Chimina (MDC Alliance) is facing two separate charges of inciting violence in the January protests over fuel price increases and the country’s deteriorating economic situation.