OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Glen View South aspiring Member of Parliament, Grandmore Hakata and 39 other party members spent the weekend behind bars on a charge of disorderly conduct.
Hakata and the CCC members were arrested on Tuesday last week while holding an electoral campaign road show at Machipisa shopping centre, Highfiled, Harare.They appeared before Harare magistrate Learnmore Mapiye on Friday and were denied bail.
They will be back in court today.State witness Collin Makore, who is the investigating officer, opposed bail saying the accused persons may interfere with ongoing investigations.
Makore also said other CCC members facing the same offence were still at large.”They were blocking other cars (and) making noise using public address systems,” Makore said.
“We are in an election period and the way the accused persons behaved on the day is a cause of concern, and they may endanger the lives of the general public. The accused are violent, and they attempted to attack police officers on duty.”
The CCC members are being represented by Kudzai Kadzere from the Zimbabwe Human Rights.Kadzere said police had no evidence.”You have not done an identification parade,” Kadzere said as he cross-examined Makore.
“You were not part of the team which arrested the accused persons … what evidence do you have before this court? What’s wrong with people driving their cars to the rally? So citizens of Zimbabwe are supposed to be locked up for the police to finish their investigation?
“Why should the accused persons suffer because of the police’s incompetence?” Hakata is facing a separate charge of failing to notify police about the campaign road show which police referred to as a car rally.
According to police, the CCC had notified authorities about a campaign rally at Churu Farm, but diverted from the planned location resulting in the arrest.
Source Bulawayo24
