Gaynor Gumede-Saidi
A top lawyer in Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa, says she cried in court a few days ago when a Harare magistrate issued a warrant of arrest for her ailing client, former Second Lady Ms. Mary Mubaiwa, who was sedated and lying on a stretcher bed in a vehicle that was parked in the court premises.
In an interview, Mtetwa said Mubaiwa, who was customarily married to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, was apparently too weak to make it up the flight of stairs to the courtroom and had been in a car in the parking lot at the time she was expected to appear before magistrate Florence Chakanyuka.
She says Mubaiwa has not yet been arrested.
"Currently, obviously there's a warrant of arrest for her. That's what the warrant of arrest means, until she can be placed before the magistrate who issued the warrant. And the question that you ask is, 'why would a warrant be issued for someone who is not in willful default?'. She was there on the court premises; we were there in court. We explained to the magistrate that she is physically there, but cannot come up the stairs because of the physical illness she has. In fact on Friday she was completely out, because the pain she experiencing was so much that she had to be heavily sedated."
The presiding magistrate then issued a warrant of arrest for Mubaiwa despite the prosecution not asking for a warrant of arrest.
Mtetwa said the treatment Mubaiwa is receiving is inhumane and cruel.
"So, for me, this is no longer about justice because justice is not like that. Justice is merciful. Justice is kind. Justice is administered in a way that is empathetic. I have been a lawyer for more than 41 years; and I have never experienced anything like this during my professional career, and I am appalled that someone at the level of regional magistrate can actually behave like that."
"This woman (Marry) is in physical pain, she is in psychological pain because she has not been allowed to see her children. I then put myself in her shoes and honestly, a woman who has not seen her kids in 32 months; now she must be arrested because she is ill and is unable to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the courtroom. What sort of justice is this? I ask myself that, 'am I a facilitator of this injustice by being part of it? Is this the justice I am a part of? That is what made me cry. I am still sore. I am still very pained by this whole nonsense."
Mtetwa said she will continue to seek recourse through higher courts to get justice for her client, who requires urgent medical attention and whose health condition continues to deteriorate.
Mubaiwa is accused of attempting to kill Chiwenga when he was bedridden, money laundering and attempting to forge a marriage certificate.
According to NewsHawks, Mubaiwa was admitted at Healthpoint, Belgravia, Harare, on Saturday where she was “set for an amputation of her right arm yesterday morning as it is now gangrenous (death of soft tissues due to blood supply loss) and life-threatening.”
In a tweet, NewsHawks said, “However, Mubaiwa's family refused to authorize the procedure as did Marry herself because they want a second medical opinion. The courts have refused to release her passport to travel to South Africa for medical attention, effectively sentencing her to suffer or even to death.”