'Mugabe must die' pastor's freedom bid flops

A bid for freedom by self-proclaimed pastor Phillip Mugadza, who allegedly prophesied that President Mugabe would die in October, yesterday hit a brick wall after his application for refusal of further remand was dismissed by a Harare magistrate.

Mugadza (46), is facing charges of causing offence to persons of a particular race, religion, tribe, colour, creed as defined in Section 42 (2) of the Criminal Law and Codification Act (Chapter 9:23).

He appeared before magistrate Ms Barbra Chimboza, who further remanded him in custody.

In dismissing the application, Ms Chimboza said the State should be given another chance to finalise its investigations.

In his application, Mugadza, through his lawyers Messrs Obey Shava and Gift Mutisi, accused the State of infringing on his constitutional rights.

Mr Shava said: "When we appeared in court on January 19, we were told that investigations were complete and evidence had been compiled for trial purposes.

"This court even made a determination to deny the accused person bail based on those submissions.

"It is surprising that the same State is now saying it is not ready for trial. This has an effect of infringing on the accused person's right to a fair trial within a reasonable period of time. The same reasons being given by the State in its application for postponement today are the same reasons they have been proffering since proceedings commenced."

Prosecuting, Miss Audrey Chogumaira opposed the application and sought for a further postponement of the matter to March 3.

"Your Worship, there were outstanding witness statements, which needed to be recorded and the docket was sent back to station for further management, but the docket is now complete.

"It's not as if the State has not done anything to see the progress of the case.

"We are asking for two weeks postponement so that we can rectify what is missing," she said.

The magistrate concurred and remanded Mugadza in custody.

It is alleged that on January 12, Mugadza was interviewed by The Zimbabwe Mail and said President Mugabe was to die in October according to his prophecy. In the interview, Mugadza allegedly caused an offence and insulted the Christian religion and African tradition.