MDC Alliance Youth Assembly chairperson Tererai Sithole was on Friday denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Sithole appeared before Harare Magistrate Dennis Mangosi yesterday afternoon facing criminal nuisance charges as defined in section 46 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
He was remanded in custody to 14 May 2021.
Sithole was arrested on Monday 26 April 2021 by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers outside Harare Magistrates Court.
Police officers allege that Sithole together with some unidentified people who have not yet been apprehended participated in a demonstration held at New Government Complex in Harare on 1 April 2021.
The group allegedly sang protest songs with the lyrics “haikona kutamba neropa revakomana” and held placards inscribed “Free Mako, Free Joana, Ziyambi Must Go”.
MDC Treasurer David Coltart says Sithole is a victim of persecution by the State which is abusing the law to punish members of the political opposition. Coltart tweeted:
MDC A Youth Assembly chairman Obey Tererai Sithole was denied bail yesterday when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Dennis Mangosi & remanded to 14 May 2021. He has been charged with an utterly spurious “offence”. This is more persecution by the regime where the law is a weapon.
Obey is yet another in a long line of MDC A leaders who’ve been detained. As the regime tried to crush ZAPU in the 1980s so it’s doing the same today. The purpose is to create a de facto one-party state so that it can loot with impunity. All patriots have a duty to oppose this.
Meanwhile, Harare West legislator Joana Mamombe and fellow MDC Alliance activist Cecilia Chimbiri will remain in jail after High Court Judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi postponed the ruling on their bail appeal to next Tuesday saying he was still writing the judgment.
Mamombe and Chimbiri have been in jail for close to two months following their arrest for allegedly breaching COVID-19 regulations after holding a press conference at the Harare Magistrates Court calling for the release of Makomborero Haruzivishe, who is serving a 14 months’ prison sentence for “inciting violence and resisting arrest.”