A Harare provincial magistrate has dismissed an application by war veterans’ secretary general Victor Matemadanda to be removed from remand.
Mtemadanda, through his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, had challenged his placement on remand on the basis that the facts around his arrest did not constitute an offence.
However Magistrate Josephine Sande dismissed the application arguing that the war veterans’ leader indeed had addressed a press conference at which the alleged offence was committed. “The court can conclusively say that the facts are that a statement is available where certain innuendos were made. This gives rise to the suspicion of an offence being made.
The court will not allow the application under such circumstances; therefore the application for refusal of placement on remand is hereby dismissed,” ruled Sande remanding Matematanda to 12 October 2017. Matemadanda is out of custody on a $200 bail. Allegations against the former liberation war fighter were that on a date unknown to the state but between July 29 and August 3 this year, he addressed a press conference in Harare and intentionally made a statement aimed at causing disaffection among defence forces and insulting the authority of the President. Matemadanda is said to have challenged Mugabe’s assertion that the military must not meddle in politics.
The state alleges the utterances were widely quoted and published in both electronic and print media. It is also alleged that the statements had the potential to induce defence forces to either withhold their service, loyalty, allegiance or to incite them to commit breaches of discipline.
A group of about 100 war veterans and Matemadanda’s supporters openly expressed the disappointment with the judicial system outside the Harare Magistrates’ court.
All dressed in white t-shirts with messages ranging from “No to courruption, No to a dynasty” to “No ammout of intimidation will deter us”, the war veterans openly ignored calls by court officials to lower their voices since the courts were still in session.
Notable among the crowd was former minister of war veterans affairs Christopher Mutsvangwa and other members of the war veterans’ association.
Mutsvangwa briefly addressed the crowd where openly challenged Defence minister Sydney’s Sekeramai to prove his qualifications as a medial doctor.
