HARARE – Rights activist Makomborero Haruzivishe will endure more time behind bars as his lawyers battle to clear three arrest warrants before mounting an appeal against a magistrate’s decision denying him bail following his latest arrest.
Haruzivishe was seized at gunpoint on February 17 accused of kidnapping, this after leading a protest at Impala Car Rental whose shop was chain-locked by demonstrators while workers were inside last October.
The protesters were accusing the company of supplying a vehicle used by state agents in the July 30 abduction and torture of university student Tawanda Muchehiwa.
Haruzivishe was denied bail by a magistrate after it was established that he had skipped court in three separate criminal trials.
His lawyer Obey Shava, instructed by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said they needed to deal with the arrest warrants first before approaching the High Court for bail in the kidnapping case.
Haruzivishe was in court on Tuesday as Shava challenged his further remand in a case in which he is accused of staging an illegal protest in Harare’s Warren Park suburb in March last year.
The ruling on this application will be handed down on March 25.
Shava said on that date, he would also be challenging Haruzivishe’s further placement on remand in a second matter in which the activist is accused of participating in another unlawful protest in February last year.
In the third matter, Haruzivishe faces accusations of inciting vendors to attack police officers who were on a mission to “restore order” in Harare’s CBD.
Said Shava: “We are yet to apply for bail (in kidnapping case) for a simple reason. We have three arrest warrants which were confirmed by the court and we are still dealing with those warrants, once we are done then that will pave way for us to approach the High Court.”
