By Court Reporter

MDC MP for Mount Pleasant Samuel Banda has been hauled before the courts on allegations of presenting a false residential address to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

Banda allegedly provided the false address during the National Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise in December last year.

He is being charged with “making a false statement or fact in any claim or application for registration to vote knowing the statement to be false” as defined in the Electoral Act.

Banda was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Learnmore Mapiye on Monday.

His case was postponed to next year after his lawyer, Job Sikhala asked for time to acquaint himself with the charges and circumstances.

He was granted $50 bail by Harare magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa who also remanded him out of custody to December 3.

According to the state, on December 28 last year and during the BVR exercise, Banda allegedly misrepresented to ZEC that he was residing in Mt Pleasant. He is said to have done this in order to register as a voter in that constituency while he did not reside there.

It is alleged that Banda went on depose an affidavit of residence for voter registration to ZEC’s Commissioner of Oaths purporting to be residing in the low density Harare suburb.

It is the state’s case that through the misrepresentation, Banda registered as a voter in the constituency where he contested as an MP and eventually won.