Zanu-PF extortion: MDC MP remanded in custody

CHIWUNDURA legislator Livingstone Chimina (MDC Alliance) has been further remanded in custody to February 11 in a case where he stands accused of allegedly assaulting Zanu-PF youths who invaded Gweru's Kudzanayi bus terms and extorted money from buses drivers.

Chimina, together with a Gweru City Council employee, Charles Machangira, and bus company supervisor Leticia Mteliso, are accused of assaulting three Zanu-PF activists who stormed Kudzanayi long-distance bus terminus last month and illegally collected ranking fees from transport operators.

Gweru magistrate Beauty Dube deferred the matter to February 11 during a court sitting on Friday.

When he appeared for initial remand, his lawyers, Shepherd Mafa and Wellington Davira, told magistrate Dube that it was the complainants who must actually be charged for extortion.

"They (complainants) collected money from buses illegally at the rank and were never arrested. However, when our clients apprehended one of them in a civil arrest manner and handed him to the police, they surprisingly refused to take their report, saying the case was political," Davira argued.

Chimina, who denied the charges, is also facing incitement of public violence charges related to the fuel price hike protests.