Zimbabwe Court Grants CCC Lawmaker Godfrey Sithole ZWL$300,000 Bail After Spending 149 Days in Chikurubi Prison

  • VOA Staff

Some people who were in court on Thursday in Harare

Citizens Coalition for Change lawmaker, Godfrey Sithole, was today granted ZWL$300,000 bail by Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa while his colleague, Job Sikhala, is still in remand prison and is expected to appear in court on November 17.

According to Sithole’s attorneys, Gofa remanded him out of custody on condition that he won’t interfere with witnesses, should report twice at St. Mary’s Police Station and surrender his passport.

Sithole, who is facing charges of inciting violence, had spent 149 days at Chikurubi Maximum Prison with Sikhala. The two and 14 others are accused of marking inflamatory statements sometime this year at a memorial service of slaim Moreblessing Ali of CCC in Nyatsime.

They were denied bail several times by Zimbabwean courts.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights say its attorneys were also at the Harare Magistrates Court where they are seeking for freedom for 34 members of Mirirai Jehovha Apostolic Church, who are also supporters of Zimbabwe Transformative Party, an opposition political party.

In a tweet, the ZLHRLawyers said the activists “who are on trial for criminal nuisance charges have spent 4 months in remand prison since 9 July, when they were arrested & charged with contravening section 46 of Criminal Code by @PoliceZimbabwe who alleged that they had acted unlawfully in a manner which is likely to create a nuisance by walking on roads & pavements in Harare's CBD while singing a gospel song with the lyrics "Emmanuel tisunungureiwo tanzwa ne nhamo" and thereby obstructed the free passage & movement of people & vehicles.”

ZLHR lawyer, Evans Moyo, is representing them.”