Mapositori to apply for refusal of further remand

The defence counsel for 37 men from Madzibaba Ishmael Mufani's Johanne Masowe sect currently facing public violence charges for allegedly assaulting police officers and journalists have given notice to apply for refusal of further remand.

The group's lawyer, Obey Shava, Wednesday also requested the state to produce a full report on allegations of police torture raised by his clients.

"The state counsel has taken me through the docket and do accept what they are saying. In our next court appearance on August 6, state should provide a trial date for the accused persons and also furnish the court on complaints made by the accused," said Shava.

"If the state fails in that regard, the court should see it fit to remove the accused persons from remand."

Magistrate Donald Ndirowei postponed the matter to August 6 for the state to provide a trial date and for the prosecution team to give full details on the complaints raised by the accused persons.

State prosecutor Sharon Mashavira told Ndirowei she had sent a request to the police and that investigations were currently underway.

"The officer in charge for law and order has given us a letter pertaining to the investigations, with the copy already served to the accused persons' legal representatives. A full report would be given to the accused persons' legal team on their next remand date."

Mashavira also requested for more time saying the matter was intricate and required adequate time.

"This is a complex matter involving 37 accused apprehended in batches by police, the compilation of documents from various police stations took a longer period than usual," Mashavira said.

"A medical affidavit for two state witnesses, Lameck Chitope and Langton Muchena, who were injured in the violence, is not yet in our possession."

During their first appearance on June 10, the sect members made sensational claims they were tortured while in custody by law enforcement agents.

Allegations against the accused persons arose on May 30 when an entourage, led by Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president Archbishop Johannes Ndanga, that included police officers and journalists, was beaten up by the sect members.

This was after Ndanga had read out a letter banning the church on allegations of undermining women and children's  rights.

The congregants challenged the ACCZ leader to read his speech in Shona, claiming they were not conversant with English. Ndanga then ordered police to arrest one of the congregants who kept interjecting reading of  the speech. Other congregants then began singing a song Umambo hwepfumo neropa, before many male congregants armed with ‘holy sticks' charged towards the "trespassers" and assaulted them.