OPPOSITION MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe’s driver Witness Dube and fellow party member Kunashe Muchemwa have been put to their defence in a motor vehicle robbery case after a Bulawayo magistrate dismissed their application for discharge on Wednesday.
BY SILAS NKALA
Dube and Muchemwa has pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery and assault when they appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mark Dzira.
The court heard that the two seized the vehicle allocated to then MDC-T Matabeleland North provincial chairperson Sengezo Tshabangu when it was in the lawful custody of his driver Lameck Ndlovu on May 25, 2014.
Last month, the two MDC-T activists, through their lawyers Tanaka Muganyi and Kholwani Ngwenya, applied for discharge citing lack of evidence against them.
However, Dzira dismissed their application saying the court had considered the fact they allegedly used physical force to grab the party vehicle from Ndlovu.
“It appears you used force to take the vehicle and because of that, the State managed to prove a prima facie case against you,” he said.
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“Due to injuries sustained by the complainant (Ndlovu) during the said robbery, it shows that there was some force used to take the vehicle and therefore the accused must be placed on their deference.”
Dzira then remanded them to October 8 for their defence case. They are out of custody on $200 bail.
During trial last month, former MDC-T treasurer-general Elton Mangoma said the vehicle in question did not belong to the MDC-T, but to a company owned by senior party members some of whom had since defected.
Mangoma produced a Laphonic Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd company document whose directors are mostly MDC-T senior members. These include MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, treasurer-general Theresa Makone, Paurina Mpariwa, Charlton Hwende and former secretary-general Tendai Biti who is now leader of the People’s Democratic Party.
Ngwenya had argued that his client Muchemwa was not at the scene of the alleged robbery on the day and the State had failed to prove that he was there when the car was confiscated.
