HARARE – Citizens Coalition for Change co-president and lawyer Tendai Biti was spared jail on Tuesday following his conviction for verbal assault.
Biti, 56, was given a wholly suspended six-month prison sentence and also ordered to pay a US$300 fine by Harare magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti.
He was on trial for calling Tatiana Aleshina “stupid” while leaving court in in November 2020. Aleshina, a Russian national, had stood up from the public gallery to object to Biti’s line of argument in a criminal matter involving her boss Ken Sharpe, a controversial property investor.
Biti’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama said they were “extremely disappointed but not surprised” with the court’s verdict.
“We are going to appeal both the conviction and sentence. By tomorrow (Wednesday) the appeal would have been filed,” Muchadehama said.
Before sentencing Biti, Muchuchuti said the former finance minister should have controlled his emotions especially because he was confronting a layman.
“He should have understood that in a better way. The court will frown on his behaviour considering the titles he holds,” said the magistrate.
“This conviction is not the first by the accused. The incident happened at court. The court will take into consideration that the offence was not premeditated.
“Biti is a lawyer and should know how to handle himself. He ought to have controlled his emotions.”
Muchuchuti blamed Biti for the delays in the trial after he launched various appeals.
“The court is surprised that Biti is complaining that the trial took too long. The delay is largely attributed to his conduct. He is the one who wasted court’s time,” Muchuchuti said.
The magistrate said she was convinced that Biti will do it again, dismissing his apology read by his lawyer as “not sincere” but a statement merely put out for mitigation.
During a sentencing hearing earlier, Muchadehama said a fine of US$100 was appropriate.
Biti is a father of five with three children still going through university, Muchadehama said. His 73-year-old mother, the court heard, is diabetic and hypertensive and requires constant medication.
The politician runs a piggery with over 2,000 pigs and employs 23 workers on the project. He also runs a law firm which employs six legal practitioners and nine support staff.
“In terms of personal health the accused is diabetic and hypertensive. This has been exacerbated by this lengthy prosecution. He is a political animal, he has been active since his time in high school. He has a strong sense of justice,” Muchadehama said.
“He has been an MP since 2000 and has made tremendous contributions in parliament. As a cabinet minister, he made a lot of positive changes. He believes in social democracy and has a global presence and worldwide speaking engagements in law, politics and economics. He has observed elections in several countries including South Africa.
“You can clearly see, Your Worship, that the world needs Tendai Biti. He has been a critical figure in advancing law and has over 100 cases cited in Zimbabwe Law Reports.”
Muchadehama said “there is no lawyer in Zimbabwe who has advanced rights of women as much as Biti,” adding: “To call him disrespectful to women is wrong. No impression was created that he has bad feelings against women.
“What happened is unlikely to occur again. He has no appetite to engage in that conduct again… He is not a threat to the complainant. Calling him a ‘huge gigantic person’ as she did is actually an insult especially when looking at Biti. So he was also insulted, but he takes no offence.
“There was no physical assault, Biti is not a violent person and what happened is likely not to happen again. There are no aggravating factors in this case. There was no premeditation. No weapon was used. It was a verbal appraisal. It was a once-off event. Imprisonment is totally unsuitable in this case.”
Tafara Chirambira, for the National Prosecuting Authority, had urged the court to give Biti a severe punishment stating that a fine will trivialise the offence.
“The court should also consider the victim. The complainant is a female aged 54. If we go to section 8 of the constitution, it recognises women as protected in this country. They should be treated to full and equal dignity,” Chirambira argued.
“The complainant deserves equal protection. She has no flowery background. She is not a lawyer. She has not spoken before a global forum. Before this court is an accused convicted of assault. So the court should be guided by the law.
“The issue that he is a legal practitioner places him in a situation where he has an ethical duty to respect the law. The offence was committed in the corridors of the magistrates courts. The state implores the court to consider that in coming with its sentence.
“A fine will not meet the justice of the crime. His mitigation shows he is a man of means and therefore a financial punishment will not be painful to him. The court is well within its rights to consider community service. Imposing a fine on a person who will not feel it as a punishment will be a waste of time.
“Would it be just for the court to say, ‘okay pay another fine’ when he was fined five years ago? Suffice to say, the penalty for the offence starts from a fine to imprisonment. The state respectfully submits that a fine is too trivial.”
Aleshina arrived in Zimbabwe in 1997. Her sister, Joanna, is married to Ken Sharpe who sparred with Biti in court in 2020 after the lawyer accused him of corruption in his acquisitions of vast swathes of land in Harare.
