10 suspected #Tajamuka protestors get bail, tout jailed

Ten of the 68 protesters, including journalist James Jemwa, arrested last week for public violence, have been granted bail after the magistrate ruled that they were subject to a dragnet arrest.

Jemwa (40), together with Samuel Tenje (42), Tonderai Fandani (27), Leo Langwani (53), Fredman Mambanjeshoma (68), Lovemore Chitongo (39), Passmore Mdala (24), Pika David (36), Tawanda Matambo (29) and Acquiline Mutengwa, was granted $50 bail coupled with some conditions.

They were ordered to report once a week to the police, not to interfere with witnesses and investigations and to continue residing at the addresses they supplied to the police until the matter is finalised.

Magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe said following the submissions by the defence during bail application, it was not in dispute that Jemwa is a journalist arrested while on duty.

He said that some of the accused persons were security guards arrested while outside the buildings they were manning.

The court further said that it was impossible for Mambanjeshoma, a 68-year-old man, to be involved in such activities.

"It was not in dispute that some of the accused persons are security guards who were arrested while on duty. They even appeared in court clad in their uniforms," he said.

"Accused number 35 (Mambanjeshoma) is a senior citizen and the court struggles to think that he can participate in an event which needs energy, the energy he no longer has."

He added: "It was also not in dispute that Matambo and Mutengwa are husband and wife who were arrested soon after disembarking from a commuter omnibus."

The other 58 were remanded in custody after Mr Mahwe said it was not in the interest of justice to grant them bail.

He said the State's case was strong considering that they were arrested in broad daylight while committing the offence.

"The compilation of their docket needs time since they are many, hence the need for them to be in one place while the investigating officer completes his investigations," he said.

It is alleged that on August 26, the suspects gathered at an open space between Rainbow Towers and Interpol offices. They allegedly conspired to proceed into town where they reportedly engaged in sporadic acts of public violence.

Meanwhile, a tout who fatally struck his colleague with an iron bar while competing for commuters at Fourth Street Bus Terminus in Harare last year will spend three years in jail, writes Daniel Nemukuyu.

Beaven Sovenes Nemaramba was recently jailed after the High Court convicted him of culpable homicide.

Justice Herbert Chitapi found that Nemaramba killed his colleague, Mr Joseph Gavani, due to neg- ligence.

Nemaramba, the court found, intended to ward off rival touts who were protesting his idea of touting for commuters in their "territory" but the iron bar he was wielding accidentally slipped and hit the late Mr Gavani.

Justice Chitapi initially slapped Nemaramba with a six-year jail term but conditionally set aside three years.

Effectively, Nemaramba will spend three years behind bars for the offence.

On November 15 last year, Mr Gavani, who worked for Muponda Transport, was loading goods into his kombi at the Murewa loading bay at Fourth Street Terminus.

Nemaramba, a bully, started touting for passengers for another kombi when it was not yet his turn.

Touts at the rank questioned why Nemaramba was behaving that way and he picked up an iron bar.

He swung it in the direction where Mr Gavani and other conductors were standing hoping to scare them away.

Accidentally, the bar slipped off his hand and struck Mr Gavani, who died on the spot.