Mnangagwa legitimacy challenger's criminal charges quashed

ZANU-PF activist Sybeth Musengezi has been acquitted of fraud charges by a Harare magistrate. Musengezi was accused of falsely representing his residential address to Zanu-PF for personal gain. He denied the allegations, stating that Zanu-PF suffered no prejudice from the alleged misrepresentation. Magistrate Dennis Mangosi agreed, ruling that the state's evidence was insufficient to prove any fraud had occurred.

Mangosi noted that the circumstances of Musengezi's membership in Zanu-PF were not criminal. The state's evidence, based on unreliable Zanu-PF cell and branch sheets, failed to establish a prima facie case of misrepresentation. Key witness Allan Chisuko, who the state claimed was involved, was not called to testify, and the evidence presented was inconsistent and speculative.

Mangosi highlighted that Musengezi was eligible to be a Zanu-PF member in the area due to his work location, negating any motive to provide a false address. He concluded that the incorrect address in Zanu-PF's records likely resulted from errors, not fraud, and that no prejudice to Zanu-PF was proven.

Musengezi's legal troubles coincided with his challenge to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's legitimacy, alleging that Mnangagwa's rise to power in 2017 violated party rules. His lawyers argued that the fraud charges were a tactic to undermine his legal standing in that challenge, describing the charges as an abuse of the judicial process aimed at silencing dissent within Zanu-PF.