Former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial youth chairperson Godfrey Tsenengamu, who is facing charges of subverting a constitutionally-elected government, had his application for refusal of further remand dismissed by a Harare magistrate on Tuesday.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
Magistrate Josephine Sande ruled against Tsenengamu after his lawyer, Zivanai Macharaga, had applied for refusal of further remand, saying the State was taking too long to indict his client for trial at the High Court.
The application, however, had been opposed by prosecutor Sebastian Mutizirwa, who argued it was too early for Tsenengamu to ask for removal from remand.
Mutizirwa said Tsenengamu had been on remand for less than a year and should wait patiently for his date in court.
However, Sande gave the State an ultimatum to provide Tsenengamu with a trial date by December 13, saying she would remove him from remand if it failed to do so.
Tsenengamu was arrested after he addressed journalists in the capital, where he reportedly incited war veterans by saying: “The ball is now in your hands, the war veterans, the same way you removed [Zanu Ndonga leader Ndabaningi] Sithole to replace him with (President Robert) Mugabe. We now want you to lead us so that [Vice-President Emmerson] Mnangagwa becomes the next party president going forward.”
