Police last month refused to grant the MDC-T permission to use Beitbridge’s Dulibadzimu Stadium for a party workshop claiming Zanu PF had a scheduled rally near the facility.
The MDC-T defied the police leading to the arrest of 13 of its supporters under the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) on February 25.
According to facts before the courts, Beitbridge police wrote to Elliot Mabeza of MDC –T, advising him they were not cleared to hold their meeting because Zanu PF was having a rally nearby.
Three days earlier, the same senior police officer had written to Zanu PF’s Beitbridge District co-ordinator, a C Kunaka, approving the party’s rally.
The MDC –T officials, who included Beitbridge deputy mayor Patricia Ndlovu, appeared before Beitbridge magistrate Auxilia Chiwumburu last month.
They were granted $50 bail each, but prosecutor Jabulani Mberesi invoked section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act setting aside bail for a period of seven days pending appeal to the High Court.
The 13 were released from police custody after the State failed to lodge an appeal within the stipulated period.
On Tuesday, the activists were back in court and were further remanded to April 2, when their lawyer Kossam Ncube indicated that he would make an application for refusal of further remand.
