By Staff Reporter

PRO-DEMOCRACY campaigner Tendai Lynette Mudehwe who was arrested after holding a protest against former vice president Phelekezela Mphoko’s lengthy stay in a five star hotel at taxpayers’ expense is yet to stand eight years later.

Mudehwe, the Founder and Co-ordinator of Zimbabwe Activists Alliance was arrested at Rainbow Towers in 2015 and charged with criminal nuisance.

The activist from Mutare staged the demonstration on November 30, 2015, during proceedings of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) and prosecutors allege her conduct was intended to cause annoyance or disturbance of public peace.

“While at the venue of the ICASA conference, prosecutors alleged that Mudehwe started shouting and singing and thereby disrupting the smooth flow of the conference,” alleges the State.

Since then she has been appearing in court only for her case to be postponed.

She feels she is being persecuted.

On Thursday 9 February 2023, she was advised that her docket was incomplete and hence she would not appear in court.

Through her lawyer, Paidamoyo Saurombe, Mudehwe protested the actions of prosecutors to continuously summon her to travel from Mutare to appear at Harare Magistrates Court.

She is now seeking permanent stay of prosecution.

Saurombe said in the application: “If trial does not commence when Mudehwe gets summoned to appear in court, the defence will institute proceedings for a permanent stay of prosecution as the prosecutor’s conduct would constitute persecution.”