BULAWAYO magistrate, Sithembiso Ncube has issued a warrant of arrest for Insiza Rural District Council chairman, Daniel Mpofu and his co-accused, Mbuso Ncube, after they allegedly failed to attend trial on charges of assaulting a group of suspected Zanu PF land barons.
BY SILAS NKALA
The warrant of arrest was issued last week after Mpofu (68) and Mbuso Ncube (26), who are jointly charged with Dumisani Mpofu (44), Busani Mathe (31), Amado Phiri (42) and Manager Ncube (59) all of Lochard Resettlement were due to appear in court.
Only Dumisani, Mathe, Phiri and Manager showed up in court, prompting the magistrate to refuse to place them on further remand, saying their case will proceed by way of summons.
The State alleges that on June 6 this year, the six allegedly assaulted Zanu PF ward chairperson, Clifford Machona at a meeting at Lochard Business Centre.
But the suspects have denied the charge, with Mpofu claiming Machona had gate-crashed the meeting, where the issue of land barons was being discussed.
He also said there was a long standing grudge between him and the complainants, who allegedly fabricated the charges to fix him and hide their corrupt activities.
Machona was last year convicted for illegal land deals.
