MTHWAKAZI Republic Party (MRP) leader, Mqondisi Moyo and party secretary-general, Hloniphani Ncube have been fined $30 each or five days in prison for contempt of court.
By NQOBANI NDLOVU
Moyo and Ncube were charged after failing to report to Lupane Magistrates Court for the commencement of their trial in a case in which they allegedly held an unsanctioned meeting in Lupane in December last year.
They appeared before Magistrate Ndumo Masuku on Tuesday.
The two MRP leaders argued that they had communicated with the Courts through their lawyers seeking that their trial be moved from May 3 to a later date.
The MRP is pushing for a separate Matabeleland State. Party spokesperson, Mbonisi Gumbo was, however, not particularly pleased with the court’s refusal to accept any mobile money transfer payment or plastic money to pay the fines.
Government and Central Bank authorities have been preaching on the need to embrace plastic money in the face of gripping cash shortages that have seen depositors sleeping outside banks.
“What irked us the most is that the court says the court only accepts cash, no EcoCash and form of electronic system. The government is preaching what they do not practice. Why are they not accepting plastic money when there is no money in banks and the rest of the country?
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“The two, Moyo and Ncube, were fined at 15: 30pm and the court said it does not allow any form of payment except cash. Thank God we have structures in Lupane that gave a swift response. By the time we came back to the court it was 16:17pm and the Prison officers had already admitted our SG to the prison. We had to start all over again to negotiate for his release, and he was released at 17:30 pm,” Gumbo added.
