#January Protests: Magistrate Suggests Activist's Verdict Be Given In Jail Not Court

Magistrate Tinashe Tashaya on Monday suggested that activist, Josphat Mzaca Ngulube and three other people be tried at Khami Prison where they are currently held saying Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services had no fuel to transport them to court.

The suggestion was rejected by their lawyer, Nqobani Sithole who questioned the logic behind taking his clients to Khami Prison instead of keeping them at nearby Grey Prisonstold if fuel was indeed a challenge. Speaking to New Zimbabwe Sithole said:

There was a suggestion by the Magistrate to deliver his sentence at Khami Prison but I did not like that idea. The sentence is supposed to be delivered in an open court.

The sentence was postponed to Tuesday after the state pledged to engage ZPCS to bring the convicts to court.

The state alleges that the accused, acting in connivance with 100 others, unlawfully blocked the free movement of traffic in Bulawayo during the January 14 fuel protests and torched a Nissan whose flames destroyed part of the Vitz.

It further claims that a Ford Ranger and Nissan NP300 were burnt beyond repair bringing the total of destroyed properties to US$95 000.

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