Opinion / Columnist
The history of harassment of Douglas Mwonzora by the State
17 Oct 2014 at 08:07hrs | Views
The abuse of the criminal justice system by the state and Zanu-PF to silence the opposition is the most well-known trick in Zimbabwean politics. Indeed it is one of the oldest tricks in the world.
In the history of Zimbabwe, it is now arguable whether any person has been arrested by the state on trumped charges more than me. Yet my critics within and outside the Party have sought to celebrate this harassment. Instead of being outraged by this clear harassment they have sought to make political capital out of it. Some brothers in the opposition have even reproduced newspapers articles from The Herald and other state publications in the ongoing party campaigns to try to demonstrate my unsuitableness to hold office. However what they have not done is to acknowledge that I have been cleared of any wrong doing by the courts of law. For the sake of our innocent members I here below provide details of all the cases in which I was arrested and prosecuted by the state;
On the 23rd May 1990, I was arrested at Chitukuko Hotel in Gweru. I was detained in Whawha Prison for nearly ten days. My offence was that I had drafted the constitution of the Zimbabwe Unity Movement and had participated in its activities. The state latter withdrew these charges but after having made me endure the discomfort of detention. I was a law student and my studies were interfered with. This was clearly calculated to stop my activism. However it achieved the opposite. This persecution convinced me as a young student of the justice of my cause of fighting the oppression of black people by their black government. I have not looked back ever since.
Around 15th September 2000, after the successful no vote campaign charges were brought against me that I had interfered with a state witness during a criminal trial that I had been handling. I was brought to trial in Masvingo Magistrate's Court. My trial was attended by members of the security forces. However as she was implicating me the state witness suddenly collapsed and had to be taken to hospital. When the trial resumed the state witness shocked everybody by saying she wanted to make a confession. She then stated that some local lawyers linked to Zanu-PF had paid her Z$10 000 to lie against me. She produced part of the money right there in court. Resultantly I was found not guilty and acquitted.
Sometime in 2003, I was arrested for insulting Mugabe. Although I was detained the state latter released me after I raised an issue of whether the offensive word was "foolish" or "fullish" seeing that it had not be written but spoken.
The same year I was arrested and detained in Masvingo for insulting Fortune Charumbira then Deputy Minister for Local Government at Flamboyant hotel. This was after I accused Charumbira of politicising food aid in Filabusi. I had got the evidence when I visited my relatives in Filabusi. After a humiliating detention I was released.
Again in 2003, I was arrested for another offence of insulting Mugabe. I was released without trial.
In July 2003, I was accused of bribing a police officer in Masvingo. I was brought to trial before a Harare Magistrate in Masvingo called Godfrey Macheyo. When he was drunk in Ritz Night Club, he boasted that he had been sent from Harare to "put out this Mwonzora guy". When we raised it in court he denied the allegations but continued to try me. However, one of the police officers who had arrested me, Constable Musa Mlilo confessed in court that they had been ordered to arrest me and manufacture evidence against me including doctoring a tape recorder to implicate me. Another senior police officer Inspector Dennis Gura also told the court that the allegations against me had been manufactured. When the Magistrate found that the state case against me had crumbled, he suddenly claimed that I had tried to bribe him through a cheque for Z$ 500 000. He claimed that the cheque had been surrendered to the police. He then remanded me in custody for 14 days which I spent in Masvingo Remand Prison. On the 15th day I was
bought to court only to be whisked away to jail without getting into court. The explanation was that there was information that MDC militants had planted a bomb at the court. The following day in court I challenged the magistrate to produce the cheque that he claimed I had written. He suddenly denied that he had ever said I had tried to give him a cheque. He also denied that he had ever seen the cheque at all. Not so surprisingly ignoring all evidence in my favour he convicted me and sentenced me to 12 months in jailed but immediately released me on free bail without being requested to do so by anyone. I appealed against this conviction and the state case crumbled on appeal.
All the harassment that I endured in 2003 was because I was the NCA spokesman and I was effective.
In June 2009 after my appointment as COPAC co-chairperson, I was arrested for insulting Mugabe. They said that I had called Mugabe a "goblin". The state only withdrew the charges against me in 2013 in the Constitutional Court.
In October 2010 during the constitution making process, I was arrested by C.I.D Harare on charges that I had defrauded a widow of the proceeds of the sale of her house in Masvingo. I was taken to court but advised by some members of the security forces that if I abandoned my hard line stance in the constitution making process I would be set free. I refused and insisted that I wanted to stand my trial. When the trial commenced the widow and her daughter exonerated me of any wrong doing. Documents were produced which showed that my dealings had been above board and that the proceeds of the sale in question had been paid to her lawyers by my legal firm as far back as January 2008. Again the court found me not guilty and acquitted me.
On 13 February 2011 as we were preparing to draft the constitution, my rally in Nyanga North was attacked by Zanu-PF thugs. A fight ensured between the thugs and the villagers attending my rally. I drove to the police to seek their intervention. They refused to help. Latter I was arrested on charges of public violence. This is the case that was brought by the state during the nomination process. It is still pending.
During my detention at Mutare Remand Prison, fresh charges were brought against me that I had insulted Mugabe. The allegations were that I had approached his picture and asked " rakadii Ziso?"(How is your eye?). The case has since been abandoned by the state after I insisted that there was nothing wrong in enquiring about the President's health.
Sometime in 2013, I was arrested on trumped up charges of theft of trust property. I was advised that this theft had happened in 2006. The matter was widely published in the papers and I was embarrassed. After the trial the magistrate again found me not guilty and acquitted me. He actually found that the Complainant had tried to lie against me as his money had been fully accounted for and that he was trying to extort money from me.
Conclusion
I have been a victim of abuse by the state on the basis of my principled stance against oppression and suppression. Most of these arrests have been designed to silence me or embarrass both me and my party. The first arrest was targeted at stopping my student activism. Some were targeted at stopping my activism within the NCA and the MDC. The other arrests were targeted at compromising me during the constitution making process. The latest prosecution was clearly meant to stop me from getting nominations. Fortunately the MDC members have given me the nomination I needed.
What I find strange is for some brothers to try to make political capital out of my persecution by the state. They are behaving as if they arranged this victimisation together with my tormentors. I faced my accusers in courts of law and I was cleared of any wrong doing. However this was after my family and I had gone through a lot of suffering.
In the history of Zimbabwe, it is now arguable whether any person has been arrested by the state on trumped charges more than me. Yet my critics within and outside the Party have sought to celebrate this harassment. Instead of being outraged by this clear harassment they have sought to make political capital out of it. Some brothers in the opposition have even reproduced newspapers articles from The Herald and other state publications in the ongoing party campaigns to try to demonstrate my unsuitableness to hold office. However what they have not done is to acknowledge that I have been cleared of any wrong doing by the courts of law. For the sake of our innocent members I here below provide details of all the cases in which I was arrested and prosecuted by the state;
On the 23rd May 1990, I was arrested at Chitukuko Hotel in Gweru. I was detained in Whawha Prison for nearly ten days. My offence was that I had drafted the constitution of the Zimbabwe Unity Movement and had participated in its activities. The state latter withdrew these charges but after having made me endure the discomfort of detention. I was a law student and my studies were interfered with. This was clearly calculated to stop my activism. However it achieved the opposite. This persecution convinced me as a young student of the justice of my cause of fighting the oppression of black people by their black government. I have not looked back ever since.
Around 15th September 2000, after the successful no vote campaign charges were brought against me that I had interfered with a state witness during a criminal trial that I had been handling. I was brought to trial in Masvingo Magistrate's Court. My trial was attended by members of the security forces. However as she was implicating me the state witness suddenly collapsed and had to be taken to hospital. When the trial resumed the state witness shocked everybody by saying she wanted to make a confession. She then stated that some local lawyers linked to Zanu-PF had paid her Z$10 000 to lie against me. She produced part of the money right there in court. Resultantly I was found not guilty and acquitted.
Sometime in 2003, I was arrested for insulting Mugabe. Although I was detained the state latter released me after I raised an issue of whether the offensive word was "foolish" or "fullish" seeing that it had not be written but spoken.
The same year I was arrested and detained in Masvingo for insulting Fortune Charumbira then Deputy Minister for Local Government at Flamboyant hotel. This was after I accused Charumbira of politicising food aid in Filabusi. I had got the evidence when I visited my relatives in Filabusi. After a humiliating detention I was released.
Again in 2003, I was arrested for another offence of insulting Mugabe. I was released without trial.
In July 2003, I was accused of bribing a police officer in Masvingo. I was brought to trial before a Harare Magistrate in Masvingo called Godfrey Macheyo. When he was drunk in Ritz Night Club, he boasted that he had been sent from Harare to "put out this Mwonzora guy". When we raised it in court he denied the allegations but continued to try me. However, one of the police officers who had arrested me, Constable Musa Mlilo confessed in court that they had been ordered to arrest me and manufacture evidence against me including doctoring a tape recorder to implicate me. Another senior police officer Inspector Dennis Gura also told the court that the allegations against me had been manufactured. When the Magistrate found that the state case against me had crumbled, he suddenly claimed that I had tried to bribe him through a cheque for Z$ 500 000. He claimed that the cheque had been surrendered to the police. He then remanded me in custody for 14 days which I spent in Masvingo Remand Prison. On the 15th day I was
bought to court only to be whisked away to jail without getting into court. The explanation was that there was information that MDC militants had planted a bomb at the court. The following day in court I challenged the magistrate to produce the cheque that he claimed I had written. He suddenly denied that he had ever said I had tried to give him a cheque. He also denied that he had ever seen the cheque at all. Not so surprisingly ignoring all evidence in my favour he convicted me and sentenced me to 12 months in jailed but immediately released me on free bail without being requested to do so by anyone. I appealed against this conviction and the state case crumbled on appeal.
All the harassment that I endured in 2003 was because I was the NCA spokesman and I was effective.
In June 2009 after my appointment as COPAC co-chairperson, I was arrested for insulting Mugabe. They said that I had called Mugabe a "goblin". The state only withdrew the charges against me in 2013 in the Constitutional Court.
In October 2010 during the constitution making process, I was arrested by C.I.D Harare on charges that I had defrauded a widow of the proceeds of the sale of her house in Masvingo. I was taken to court but advised by some members of the security forces that if I abandoned my hard line stance in the constitution making process I would be set free. I refused and insisted that I wanted to stand my trial. When the trial commenced the widow and her daughter exonerated me of any wrong doing. Documents were produced which showed that my dealings had been above board and that the proceeds of the sale in question had been paid to her lawyers by my legal firm as far back as January 2008. Again the court found me not guilty and acquitted me.
On 13 February 2011 as we were preparing to draft the constitution, my rally in Nyanga North was attacked by Zanu-PF thugs. A fight ensured between the thugs and the villagers attending my rally. I drove to the police to seek their intervention. They refused to help. Latter I was arrested on charges of public violence. This is the case that was brought by the state during the nomination process. It is still pending.
During my detention at Mutare Remand Prison, fresh charges were brought against me that I had insulted Mugabe. The allegations were that I had approached his picture and asked " rakadii Ziso?"(How is your eye?). The case has since been abandoned by the state after I insisted that there was nothing wrong in enquiring about the President's health.
Sometime in 2013, I was arrested on trumped up charges of theft of trust property. I was advised that this theft had happened in 2006. The matter was widely published in the papers and I was embarrassed. After the trial the magistrate again found me not guilty and acquitted me. He actually found that the Complainant had tried to lie against me as his money had been fully accounted for and that he was trying to extort money from me.
Conclusion
I have been a victim of abuse by the state on the basis of my principled stance against oppression and suppression. Most of these arrests have been designed to silence me or embarrass both me and my party. The first arrest was targeted at stopping my student activism. Some were targeted at stopping my activism within the NCA and the MDC. The other arrests were targeted at compromising me during the constitution making process. The latest prosecution was clearly meant to stop me from getting nominations. Fortunately the MDC members have given me the nomination I needed.
What I find strange is for some brothers to try to make political capital out of my persecution by the state. They are behaving as if they arranged this victimisation together with my tormentors. I faced my accusers in courts of law and I was cleared of any wrong doing. However this was after my family and I had gone through a lot of suffering.
Source - Douglas Mwonzora
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