By Costa Nkomo
Harare Magistrate Collet Ncube has once again denied bail to former Minister Jameson Timba and 64 other Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activists.
The court rejected their latest bail application, arguing that the “changed circumstances” presented by the defence were not sufficient to warrant a reconsideration.
Magistrate Ncube expressed concern that the accused have a propensity to commit similar offenses if released, stating that they should remain in custody until their trial is concluded.
The defence team, led by lawyer Webster Jiti, had argued that the state witnesses had finished their testimonies, mitigating the risk of the accused interfering with witnesses. However, the magistrate was not persuaded.
This is the third time Timba and his co-accused have been denied bail, keeping them in detention for the past 99 days. Initially, 79 individuals were arrested, but 12 have since been acquitted.
Two others, including Timba’s son and 18-year-old Form Four student Nicole Chabata, were granted bail.
Among the remaining detainees is a woman with a one-year-old baby and Tambudzai Makororo, who continues to suffer from a leg injury sustained during their arrest.
Jiti has stated that they will appeal the court’s decision at the High Court, stating, “We will obviously challenge the correctness of the decision by the magistrate in the High Court. We will also proceed and try to expedite the defence case so that we finish and we have a substantive ruling on all the issues.”
He added, “You will bear in mind that the accused persons were facing two charges when they initially appeared before the courts and they are now facing only one after having been acquitted on the other.
So, we thought they had a better chance of being granted bail since the seriousness of the offence had been alleviated by the acquittal on the other charge. So, the court did not agree with us.”
