Copac co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora on Tuesday said the continued legal battles he was facing were disturbing his participation in Copac activities, which have now reached a critical stage.
Mwonzora, the MDC-T representative at the Copac chair, told NewsDay that the grand strategy by Zanu PF was to ensure that he would not participate at the drafting stage of the Constitution as the trial of one of his charges has been set for June, the month of the crucial process.
On Monday, Mwonzora appeared before a Harare magistrate for allegedly duping an elderly widow, Elizabeth Mary Adams (55), from Masvingo of her plot in 2005.
But Mwonzora said when he went to the court the magistrate did not turn up, raising suspicion that it was a deliberate attempt to disturb his participation at the constitution-making process.
“I am accused of trying to steal from a widow,” said Mwonzora. “I was supposed to be tried in Masvingo but the trial could not kick off.”
He said he did not see any reason why the trial continued to be postponed as attending courts that never sat wasted a lot of his time.
“I am not saying that we should not be arrested if we do wrong things, but I am saying we should not be unfairly charged,” he said.
Mwonzora said the issue was clearly political as a Masvingo magistrate who had been assigned to preside over the case threatened to convict MDC-T “puppets” who appeared before him.
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His trial has been postponed to June, a time when Copac will be at a crucial stage, the drafting of the new constitution.
Recently, Copac co-chairman Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana from Zanu PF disputed the continued legal ordeals that Mwonzora faced had to do with trying to deter the MDC-T from participating in Copac business as there were other people to replace Mwonzora in his absence.
Mwonzora has since filed an application to the courts through his lawyers to ask for the postponement of his trial until September when the constitution-making process is expected to be completed.
