Tendai Biti’s bid to have Harare regional magistrate Mrs Vongai Muchuchuti recused from handling his assault case has failed after it was dismissed due to lack of merit.
Biti is facing charges of manhandling a Zimbabwean investor
Mrs Tatiana Aleshina at the Harare Magistrates Court.
In dismissing Biti’s application Mrs Muchuchuti said if the
court had not dismissed Biti’s application for postponement on August 1, the
applicant would not have made an application for her recusal, suggesting that
he was aggrieved by that ruling.
Mrs Muchuchuti said the dismissal of Biti’s application for
postponement is a question of law.
“The applicant had no substantive grounds to prove that the
court was taking away his constitutional rights,” she said.
She further ruled that Biti was busy seeing writings on the
wall, which are not there as she asserted that the question of bias does not
hold water in this assault case.
In her ruling, the magistrate also said the reasons
proffered by the applicant were not reasonable for her recusal.
Biti’s latest application came after Mrs Muchuchuti ruled
that Biti’s case must be heard on a daily basis to speed up processes after
observing delays.
During the previous sitting, Mr Reza also informed the
court that Biti’s application for recusal of the magistrate was not procedural,
and lacked merit.
Mr Reza put it to Biti during cross examination that he
abandoned his application for referral of the matter to the Constitutional
Court after the court ruled that his matter be heard on a daily basis to ensure
progress.
In his response, Biti alleged that the ruling by the court
affected his constitutional rights, and he did not want anyone to take away the
rights he was given by the constitution.
Mr Reza further informed Biti that if he had any
reservations with the court’s ruling, he should have appealed to the superior
courts rather than applying for the magistrate’s recusal.
However, Biti insisted that he wanted Mrs Muchuchuti to
recuse herself, further alleging that they are protagonists, a position that
was dismissed in today’s ruling.
In her ruling to hear the matter on a daily basis Mrs
Muchuchuti highlighted that Biti’s application for referral of the matter to
the Apex Court started on May 27, and up to date, the application is yet to
conclude.
She said she needed to dispose of this matter within a
reasonable time frame, hence the adoption of interventions where the matter
will be heard daily with immediate effect.
The Magistrate further reiterated that the accused should
be reminded that he is the accused in this matter and should give it priority
over other matters.
“With the rate we are managing this case it means the
accused will need another two months to finish his application,” said
Magistrate Muchuchuti as she mapped the way forward. Mrs Muchuchuti ruled that
Biti’s case must be heard on a daily basis to speed up processes after observing
delays. Herald
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