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By
Staff
Reporter
ONE of Zimbabwe's
top business moguls and President Robert Mugabe's nephew Phillip Chiyangwa
was conspicuous by his absence as his co-accused in an espionage case
appeared before a Harare magistrate on Friday amid rumours that he had
been tortured and had suffered a stroke, or even that he was in a coma
or dead.
Banker Tendai Matambanadzo, Zanu PF's deputy security chief Kenny Karidza, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Mozambique Godfrey Dzvairo and Itai Marchi were finally dragged to court on undisclosed charges, amid tight security.
It is understood that the men were charged under the Official Secrets Act, relating to disclosing state security information to foreign governments.
The Press and relatives of the accused were barred from attending court. No reasons were given for barring the Press. Matambanadzo and Dzvairo’s lawyer Selby Hwacha of Dube, Manikai and Hwacha law firm confirmed that his clients had appeared in court. The four were said to have been remanded in custody to December 29.
“The matter has come and gone and we have not had an opportunity to meet our clients. Now that they are remanded in prison, I am hoping that I can get access to them. I don’t know what happened to them. We had no-one to speak to and nobody told us anything. We still don’t know why they were arrested. We are completely surprised that they went to court. I am still in a quandary as to what happened,” Hwacha said.
The four went "missing" about a fortnight ago, together with businessman and Mashonaland West Zanu PF provincial chairman Phillip Chiyangwa. The police denied they had arrested them until it emerged they had been seized by state security agents from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Asked whether Chiyangwa had appeared in court, his lawyer Lloyd Mhishi said: “As far as I am concerned Chiyangwa didn’t go to court. In fact, I was not given instructions from Chiyangwa to handle the (purported) matter.”
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi could neither confirm nor deny that the four had appeared in court saying he was on leave, while Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was unreachable.
Fears were raised over Chiyangwa's health after he was seen at St Giles trauma centre in mid-week amid claims that he had been tortured and had suffered a stroke. On Christmas Day, Harare was awash with rumours that he had DIED, although his family has denied this.
The privately-owned Daily Mirror newspaper says its crew arrived at the Harare Magistrates Courts on Thursday afternoon but were barred by security agents who said they were under strict instructions not to allow anyone into the court building.
The security details confirmed that there were proceedings in Court 13, but could not say whether the case was that of Matambanadzo, Maridza, Dzvairo, Chiyangwa and Marchi.
“Court 13 is currently sitting, but we are under instruction not to allow you in. In fact, you must not be here. Some of the accused persons’ relatives were chased away,” one of the security guards said.
Eye witnesses say
the men came to the court in a convoy of unmarked vehicles that had
heavily armed security details. A photographer with the state-run Herald
newspaper, the witnesses said, was punched by one of the more than 15
heavily armed security details, his camera confiscated and briefly detained.
The Herald news crew, the witnesses added, was later summoned by some
of the security agents and told that they were not supposed to cover
the story in terms of a 1985 statutory instrument, that reportedly bars
the publication of matters that compromise state security.
Additional reporting Daily Mirror
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