THE Office of the Prosecutor-General has ordered the release of two vehicles seized by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a case in which 29 MDC-T activists were charged over the murder of police inspector Petros Mutedza in Glen View, Harare, in 2011.
REPORT BY WONAI MASVINGISE
The vehicles — a Mazda Demio and a Mazda B1800 pickup truck — belong to Cynthia Manjoro and Zwelibanze Dube who were among the accused, but have since been acquitted.
According to communication seen by this paper, Edmore Nyazamba, from the Prosecutor-General’s Office, ordered the police officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department Law and Order section in Harare to release the vehicles.
“The alleged owners/drivers have since been acquitted of the charges and there is no evidence which directly links the vehicles to the offences charged,” Nyazamba’s letter reads in part. This followed earlier communication to the NPA by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) demanding the release of the vehicles.
“We . . . write to request that these vehicles be released to them as a matter of urgent priority. We do not believe it is necessary to flood the court with yet another application to this effect when the position at law is very clear,” ZLHR wrote. “These vehicles were neither listed nor produced as exhibits in their trial.
The two have since been acquitted at the close of the State Case under CRB 55/11.
