Duo acquitted on Mopa charges

Two human rights defenders have been acquitted on charges of organising an unsanctioned meeting at a lodge in Bindura in June last year.

Institute for Young Women's Development (IYWD) team members, Sandra Zenda and Kudakwashe Munemo were on trial at the Bindura magistrates court.

Prosecutors had claimed that Zenda and Munemo, who were represented by Tinashe Chinopfukutwa, Idirashe Chikomba and Kelvin Kabaya of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, did not seek police clearance before organising the said meeting.

Magistrate Samantha Dhlamini acquitted the duo after ruling that prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

Dhlamini said evidence from one of the state witnesses was hearsay and inadmissible.

Dhlamini also ruled that the meeting was exempted in terms of the Maintenance of Public Order Act (Mopa)  from the requirement to notify the so-called regulatory authority.