Opposition leader, Tendai Biti arrived at the Zambian side
of the Chirundu One-Stop Border Post last night while his lawyers are preparing
to file an urgent High Court application to stop him from being sent back to
Harare.
Biti is being sought by the police over a number of
allegations, including inciting violence that rocked Harare after voting in the
harmonised elections last week and his illegal declaration of MDC-Alliance
presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa as the winner.
Only the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is mandated by the
constitution to declare a winner of an election.
Biti yesterday tried to evade the police by heading to
Zambia, but was taken in by the Zambian authorities while trying to cross into
that country at Chirundu Border Post.
In an interview with The Herald last night, Zambia’s Foreign Minister Joseph
Malanji said Biti had come to that country to seek asylum, but his grounds were
not meritorious.
He said Zimbabwe’s political situation was stable and there
was no reason for Biti to try to seek refuge in that country citing political
instability.
“He came here trying to seek asylum, but the grounds on
which he wanted to apply for asylum did not meet the requirement as required by
the law,” he said.
Minister Malanji said if Biti was facing any charges in
Zimbabwe he had to attend to them in a legitimate court of law.
“What we have done to Mr Biti is to give him safe custody
before he heads back to Harare,” he said. “We are simply making sure Mr Biti
has a safe passage back to Harare.”
Asked when Mr Biti would be coming back to Harare, Minister
Malanji said: “It is not up to us to tell when he’s going back.”
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