THE State yesterday withdrew the case against MDC-T activist Stanley Saruwaka, who was being prosecuted for allegedly demanding his share of the free Presidential farming inputs.
BY CLAYTON MASEKESA
Saruwaka’s lawyer Netsai Nyamwanza from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights yesterday confirmed that the withdrawal of the charges by the State.
“The case was withdrawn because there was no docket and record opened by the police. The complainant Erejesiya Nyakatsapa also withdrew the matter,” Nyamwanza said.
NewsDay is in possession of Nyakatsapa’s affidavit withdrawing his complaint.
Saruwaka was arrested and spent a night in police cells on March 7 this year after demanding his share of the farming inputs bankrolled by the government under the Presidential Inputs Scheme.
But Saruwaka, who is the MDC-T provincial spokesperson and Mutasa Central MP, said he was not happy with the withdrawal of the case by the State.
The legislator said he wanted to expose in court Zanu PF for abusing government schemes.
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“My hope was that this case was going to expose the abuse of inputs in many other government schemes by people who hold no position in government but are mere political party functionaries,” he said.
“Now that the country has declared a food deficit, I foresee a repeat of such things when drought relief food is being distributed.”
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association has since mounted a constitutional application challenging the partisan distribution of agricultural inputs by government. The Constitutional Court is yet to hear the case.
