by Innocent Mujeri
The MDC-Alliance reportedly fears the conviction of the trio of Joanna Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marowa who are facing charges of faking their own abduction in May this year.
A source within the MDC-Alliance confided to this publication that the Secretary-General of that party, Charlton Hwende, told that party’s leadership that the State had overwhelming evidence to convict Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marowa on the charges they are facing.
Hwende is reported to have said that the State had a 15 minute video proving the whereabouts of the trio on the day of the alleged abduction.
The alleged video in possession of the State has sent the MDC-Alliance in panic mode and the leadership of that party has engaged Alec Muchadehama, the trio’s lawyer, to try his best so that the girls would not be convicted and jailed.
Meanwhile, the trio are being accused of employing tactics and flimsy excuses to delay the trial of their case.
Since the trio got bail in June, they have been making excuses before the court in order to have their case deferred to later dates.
The trial of the trio also failed to start this Wednesday after their lawyer, Muchadehama again told the court that the trio had not been served with all the papers to prepare for their defence for trial.
This prompted Regional Magistrate, Bianca Makwande to postpone the matter to 15 September, this year.
However, some people have begun to question why the trio are giving excuses to delay their trial with others suggesting that the trio knew that they faked the abduction and they are employing excuses so that they delay their trip to prison.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana also accused the MDC-Alliance trio of delaying their own trial.
“For anyone seeking justice, the time it takes to get it is critical to their justice experience. Why then are the three pulling every stop and trick in their book to delay trial. The world is looking forward to seeing what actually happened,” said Mangwana in a tweet.
One James Chigaga commenting on Mangwana’s tweet also said that the trio knew that they committed a crime by faking their own abduction and they were throwing spanners to have their trial delayed with a false belief that the case might eventually be struck off the roll.
“These girls know that they have lied about their abduction. They also know that if they were cross examined in the court, their fake abduction story would be exposed, so they are giving excuses to have their trial deferred with the false hope that the case might die a silent death,” tweeted Chigaga.
Melody Chimhau said that it was obvious from the day the trio were arrested that they did not want their case to be brought before the courts, because they would feign confusion and hysteria at the mere sight of a policeman thinking that they will be allowed to go scot free.
The trial of the MDC Alliance trio was supposed to begin in June, this year, but two months down the line, the trio is still seeking postponement of their trial.
At one time, the trio’s case was postponed again after Obey Shava of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, appearing on behalf of Muchadehama, told the court that the trio’s lawyer was attending a colleague’s funeral, hence he will not come to court to represent the accused.
Allegations against the trio are that on May 13 this year, they gathered at Choppies Supermarket in Warren Park 1 with other MDC- Alliance youths and staged an unlawful demonstration against the recalling of their MPs from Parliament and the alleged misuse of funds for the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the same day, they allegedly called their friends, family and lawyers, saying they had been arrested at a roadblock near the Exhibition Park and were taken to Harare Central Police Station.
Later that day, social media was awash with news that the trio had been abducted by suspected State security agents, an allegation that has since been dismissed as fake and misleading.
