Former Mkoba North MP Amos Chibaya (CCC) was denied bail by Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi on Monday in a case involving charges of inciting violence. He was remanded in custody to 30 October.
As reported by ZimLive, Chibaya is accused of urging fellow CCC activists to engage in violent acts while addressing them at the Harare Magistrates’ Court, where party faction leader Jameson Timba and several others were denied bail in June.
The magistrate accepted the prosecution’s argument that Chibaya will abscond trial and may commit similar offences if released.
A frequent target of arrests due to his activism, Chibaya was recently fined US$50 for missing a court appearance in another ongoing case.
The state contends that Chibaya was part of a group of CCC activists who demonstrated outside the court in June, demanding the release of 77 party members who had been denied bail.
It is further alleged that he convened a meeting at the court’s entrance, where fellow party politicians Agency Gumbo and Ostallos Gift Siziba also spoke. During the meeting, Chibaya allegedly incited violence by saying:
Chi regime chinotya vanhu, chikaona vanhu chinobvunda, Havana kuhwina maelections, togona kufuma tavakutonga, Zimbabwe haisi yeZANU PF, Zimbabwe is not a Mnangagwa Dynasty zvekumbunyikidza vanhu zvinofanira kupera.
Loosely translated, Chibaya allegedly said: “This regime fears the people, and when it sees the people, it trembles. They did not win the elections, and we can wake up to find ourselves ruling. Zimbabwe is not ZANU PF, Zimbabwe is not a Mnangagwa Dynasty. Oppressing people must end.”
It is further alleged that Chibaya invited citizens to come in large numbers to demand the release of their colleagues.
As a result of the incitement, some people at the meeting promised Chibaya to take the prisoners out by force by saying in vernacular “tichavatora Nechisimba, eheeee”.
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