The High Court has quashed a charge against renowned author Tsitsi Dangarembgwa, who was challenging the hearing of her case at the Anti-Corruption Court (ACC).
Justice Webster Chinamhora, in his ruling on Monday,
quashed the charge of violating COVID-19 regulations after finding that it made
no sense for the case to be brought before the ACC because it had nothing to do
with graft.
Dangarembga, who was charged together with Julie Gabriel Barnes,
approached the High Court accusing magistrate Trynos Wutawashe of misdirecting
himself by allowing the State to use a non-existent law.
“Whereupon after reading documents filed on record and
hearing counsel, it is ordered that the application for review is hereby
granted,” Justice Chinamhora ruled.
“The decision of the magistrate in dismissing the
application for the invalidation of the second count in ACC 140\20 that is CRB
7024-25/2020 be and is hereby set aside.
“Accordingly, the second charge against the accused in ACC
140-41/20 that is CRB 7024-25/2020 is quashed. There shall be no order as to
costs.”
The pair was arrested on July 31, 2020 after police
received a tip-off that they were demonstrating at the corner of Whitwell and
Borrowdale Roads in Harare. It is alleged the police found the duo
demonstrating with placards and this, according to the State, was in
contravention of the COVID-19 regulations.
They were charged with intention to incite public violence
and breaching COVID-19 regulations and the case was transferred to ACC. The
novelist still faces a charge of inciting violence. Newsday
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