HARARE magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti-Guwuriro has set February 13 as the date she will rule on an application for referral to the Constitutional Court filed by Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) vice president Tendai Biti in a case he is accused of verbally assaulting a local businesswoman, Tatiana Aleshina.
Biti, who is also a lawyer, appeared before Muchuchuti-Guwuriro unrepresented saying his lawyer Alec Muchadehama was committed elsewhere.
The opposition member is facing charges of manhandling Aleshina at the Harare magistrates’ court in 2020.
In his application, Biti claimed that his rights have been infringed from the day he was arrested.
During the previous sittings, and on cross examination, deputy Prosecutor General Micheal Reza told the court that all the exhibits that were tendered by Biti in his assault case were irrelevant and that everything he had mentioned about the documents he presented in 2004 to 2009 did not breach his rights.
Reza said the allegations against Biti only arose in 2020, and thereby submitting documents pertaining to things that happened in 2006 or 2009 would be irrelevant.
The prosecutor asked the court to ignore such documents and concentrate on the assault case.
In his application, Biti mentioned a commission which was formed by former Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo. He also mentioned issues about Christmas parties that were attended by Aleshina in 2009. But Reza said all the submissions were irrelevant to the case at hand.
- Chamisa party defiant after ban
- Village Rhapsody: How Zimbabwe can improve governance
- News in depth: Partisan police force persecutes opposition, shields Zanu PF rogue elements
- Chamisa chilling death threat bishop defiant
Keep Reading
Reza said Biti’s submissions about Pokugara Properties and the Airport Road agreement were not meant for the court. He further argued that Biti was addressing another audience elsewhere and playing to the gallery to gain attention.
Biti also claimed that the complainant's company had been illegally given more than 200 000 hectares of land in Harare while in actual fact Harare as a whole only has 94 000 hectares.
This prompted the complainant to respond through a press statement exposing Biti's fabrications.
After the press statement, Biti asked the court to censor the complainant and not to respond to him through the Press.
