MABVUKU-TAFARA MP James Maridadi (MDC-T) has dumped his lawyer, Auxilia Mangwaira, and is now representing himself in a case where he is charged with confiscating a National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) ticket book after refusing to pay vehicle parking fees at the parastatal’s premises last October.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Soon after informing presiding magistrate Takundwa Mtetwa yesterday that he had dumped his lawyer, Maridadi filed an application challenging the NRZ’s authority to demand parking fees at its premises.
Mtetwa then adjourned the trial to April 14 to allow the NRZ to produce evidence that it was legally entitled to charge and collect parking fees.
Maridadi, who is denying the charges levelled against him, wanted to cross-examine NRZ commercial assistant Amos Tembo over the legality of the charges. Tembo, in his evidence-in-chief, had told the court that he had mandated his subordinate, Zivanai Muzokomba, to collect the parking fees in terms of NRZ rules and regulations.
The opposition legislator claimed that collection of parking fees by the NRZ was in breach of Harare City Counci by-laws.
The NRZ ticket book Maridadi allegedly seized from Muzokomba is valued at $2,50.
Meanwhile, Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe yesterday gave Police Sergeant Thompson Joseph Mloyi temporary reprieve when he allowed his application for adjournment of his insult trial so that his Constitutional Court application be dispensed with first.
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Mloyi is charged with insulting President Robert Mugabe saying he was “too old to rule and he married a prostitute Grace Mugabe”.
The State alleges Mloyi made the remarks at Cranborne Barracks on March 5 this year.
Through his lawyer, David Hofisi, Mloyi made the application at the Harare Magistrates’ Court a day after filing a constitutional application challenging the insult laws that protect Mugabe from insults.
