DETHRONED Ntabazinduna Chief Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni has been declared a fugitive from justice after a Bulawayo magistrate issued a warrant of arrest against the ex-traditional leader for violating his bail conditions.
Ndiweni (58) ceased to be Ntabazinduna chief on November 30
in 2019 and was subsequently stripped of all Government benefits accruing to
him.
He was in August 2019 sentenced to an effective 18 months
in jail for ordering 23 villagers to destroy property belonging to a family
that he had banished from his area.
Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence, Ndiweni, through
his lawyer Mr Dumisani Dube of Mathonsi Law Chambers, appealed at the High
Court challenging the verdict of the lower court and the matter is still
pending.
He was, however, later released by Bulawayo High Court
judge, Justice Thompson Mabhikwa on $500 bail pending appeal against both conviction
and sentence.
As part of the bail conditions, the judge ordered Ndiweni
to report once a week on Fridays at ZRP Ntabazinduna and to reside at his given
address until the matter is finalised.
He, however, defaulted and reportedly fled to the United
Kingdom (UK) under the pretext of seeking medical attention.
Following his failure to adhere to the bail conditions,
police applied for his warrant of arrest in terms of section 33 (1) of the
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act at the Bulawayo magistrate’s court.
The magistrate Maxwell Ncube signed the arrest warrant last
Thursday following an application by Inspector Josiah Mamhayo, the officer in
charge of Mbembesi Police Station under whose jurisdiction Ntabazinduna falls.
In his application for a warrant of arrest, Insp Mamhayo
said there were reasonable grounds of suspicion that he violated his bail
conditions.
“From the information available to me there are reasonable
grounds of suspicion against Felix Nhlanhla Ndiweni that he defaulted the bail
conditions. He was ordered to report to Ntabazinduna Police Post as part of his
bail conditions, but he defaulted,” said Insp Mamhayo.
“I therefore apply for a warrant of apprehension to be
issued in terms of section 33 (1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act,
Chapter 9.07.”
Mr Ncube signed the warrant of arrest, which empowers
police to apprehend Ndiweni upon seeing him.
“To the peace officers of the law proper to the execution
of all criminal warrants. Whereas there are reasonable suspicions that Felix
Nhlanhla Ndiweni defaulted his bail conditions.
“These are therefore in the State’s name to command you
that immediately upon sight thereof you apprehend and bring the said accused
person or him to be apprehended and brought before the magistrate to be
examined by him and be dealt with according to the law,” said the magistrate.
Ndiweni is a known anti-Government activist who has openly
declared support for the opposition MDC-Alliance. He has on numerous occasions
been caught out on some mischief.
A few weeks ago, his picture circulated on social media
while standing outside the UK Prime Minister’s official residence Number 10
Downing Street in London to petition British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to
pressure
President Mnangagwa to allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora to
vote in 2023.
Current legislation limits voting rights to Zimbabweans
outside the country who are on official Government assignments.
Any other Zimbabwean living in the Diaspora is required to
physically present themselves at their registered polling station to cast their
vote.
In October, Ndiweni led a protest outside the British
Parliament, urging the UK government to reverse an invitation to President
Mnangagwa to attend the COP26 climate change conference held in Glasgow,
Scotland.
To their utter dismay and embarrassment, President
Mnangagwa managed to attend the global conference. The President also used his
UK visit to mount a diplomatic offensive aimed at strengthening the
re-engagement drive while calling for the removal of sanctions.
He met several world leaders, including the United States
President Joe Biden, Mr Johnson, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
President of the European Union Council Charles Michel among other global
leaders.
It was the first time for a Zimbabwean leader to visit the
UK after relations between the two nations were strained after Zimbabwe
embarked on the corrective Land Reform Programme in the early 2000s.
Two years ago, Ndiweni sensationally appealed to the
international community to escalate sanctions on President Mnangagwa’s
Government, claiming it has failed to pursue democracy.
In 2017, he allowed one political party to hold a rally in
his area against police decision barring the party to proceed with the rally in
Ntabazinduna because the police did not have enough manpower.
Ndiweni also had a stand-off with the then Umguza MP Obert
Mpofu accusing him of meddling in his and other chiefs’ affairs.
In 2018, he took the Chiefs Council President Chief Fortune
Charumbira and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to court seeking nullification
of provincial assembly and national chiefs’ council election results held in
2017, arguing that the whole process was marred with irregularities. Chronicle
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