The High Court has freed opposition Transform Zimbabwe (TZ) leader Jacob Ngarivhume after the state failed to provide to support its claim that he posted a message of X (formerly Twitter) inciting public violence.
The court quashed Harare magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka’s ruling saying the state did not link Ngarivhume to the Twitter account in which the message was posted.
Chakanyuka sentenced him to an effective three-year sentence. He has spent 8 months in prison.
Ngarivhume was arrested in 2020 and charged with inciting public violence after he allegedly used his X account to mobile mass protests against corruption.
Ngarivhume was jointly charged with opposition stalwart, Job Sikhala, who has been in jail for more than a year. Speaking to Studio7 today at Harare Magistrate Court, Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, President, Obert Masarure, said Ngarivhume was not supposed to be in jail.
Masaraure further said freeing Ngarivhume implies that Sikhala too may be acquitted.
Ngarivhume was represented by Professor Lovemore Madhuku and Moses Nkomo, instructed by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Last month, Ngarivhume successfully applied to have High Court judge Justice Benjamin Chikowero to recuse himself from presiding over his bail application pending appeal.