Magistrate fails to turn up for Gwisai appeal hearing

A Harare magistrate failed to turn up in court on Wednesday to preside over the appeal hearing against conviction and sentence of Munyaradzi Gwisai and 5 others.

The hearing was postponed twice, on Monday and Tuesday. The reason for the first two postponements was the failure by the prosecutor to attend and represent the state.

This led to defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama complaining on Tuesday about the disturbing trend of state prosecutors to not show up in court.

Now on Wednesday the hearing was postponed to Thursday because the provincial magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini failed to pitch up.

'The magistrate did not communicate with us why he failed to come to court. We were only informed by the prosecutor of his absence, which makes this whole thing a mockery of justice,' Muchadehama said.

The defence lawyer has been in court since Monday applying to have the community service sentence imposed on Gwisai set aside, pending appeal.

The former MDC-T legislator was last week convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit public violence. He was jointly charged with Antonater Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo, and Welcome Zimuto.

The magistrate also ordered the six to pay a $500 fine each. A further 24 months-prison term was imposed on the activists, 12 months of which were suspended on condition of good behaviour for the next five years. The remaining 12 months were suspended on condition the six perform 420 hours of community service, starting on March 31.