HARARE – Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) senator Jameson Timba and 64 party activists were denied bail a third time by a court in Harare on Monday.
Harare magistrate Collet Ncube ruled that there are no changed circumstances warranting the release of the activists now following their June 16 arrest on public order offences.
Their lawyers said they would appeal the decision at the High Court.
“The basis of the application was that there is now a lapse of considerable time since the accused persons were put behind bars and bearing in mind that we have at least 65 witnesses going to the defence case it will take us several months to complete the trial,” lawyer Webster Jiti said.
The legal team had hoped that the activists would get bail after they were acquitted on a charge of disorderly conduct in a public place leaving them facing one final charge of holding an unlawful gathering.
“The seriousness of their offence has been alleviated by the collapse of the other charge, so we thought they had a better chance of getting bail,” Jiti explained.
“Obviously we will challenge the correctness of the ruling at the High Court.”
The 65 are part of the initial 79 activists seized in a police raid at Timba’s Avondale home on June 16. The group said they were commemorating international youth day to mark the Soweto Uprisings.
