'Mugabe's beasts died of starvation'

The trial of suspended Zanu-PF Manicaland deputy chairperson Dorothy Mabika on stock theft charges began here yesterday, with the accused saying the cattle dies of starvation.

Mr David Jacob Jourbert, who donated the calves, was also in court and said they were still too young and chances were high that they could have died in the absence of supplementary and proper care.

"I requested my manager Philemon Maphosa to release six small, little dairy bulls out of the specially designed cages where they were being fed to Mabika's Shiriyakangwara Farm as a donation to the party," he said.

"I was never told that the calves have died. The calves were very small. They had to be fed because they would die quickly because they were out of the cages where they were being fed with supplementary feeds and milk."

Mr Maphosa said he delivered the calves as Mr Joubert's manager, but Mabika was not present at the farm when he arrived with the animals.

Mabika, who is also facing another case of stock theft together with suspended provincial chairperson Mike Madiro and another case of trying to defeat the course of justice, allegedly received six dairy bull calves from Mr Jourbert on behalf of Zanu-PF, but never surrendered the cattle to the party.

The State alleged that instead of handing over the calves to the party, she kept them for her own use.

Mabika allegedly doctored minutes of the party's provincial executive meeting to reflect that the six donated cattle had died due to lack of stock feed.

Zanu PF's secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa testified that the police were instructed by the presidium to probe the case.