Transform Zimbabwe leader, Jacob Ngarivhume will also spend another week behind bars after the Harare Magistrates Court delayed his bail hearing to next week Monday on the grounds that the designated magistrate was not available to preside over the matter.
Ngarivhume who was the convener of the failed 31 July demonstration, was arrested together with journalist Hopewell Chin’ono on charges of inciting public violence.
Updating journalists outside the Harare Magistrates Court, Ngarivhume’s lawyer Moses Nkomo said they will have to explore other avenues to seek justice for his client.
Nkomo said he had notified the state of his intention to apply for bail on changed circumstances today, which they accepted only for the Magistrates court to set Monday next week as the hearing date.
“We have just been shocked to be advised that the application cannot be heard today because the magistrate who is specifically assigned to deal with these kind of cases is not available, this is despite the fact that bail applications by their nature are urgent and should be treated as urgent. So unfortunately we have to wait until Monday that’s when we were advised that the magistrate specifically assigned to deal with Jacob’s matter will be available. So its quite unfortunate we have to explore other avenues to seek justice for Jacob,” said Nkomo.
Meanwhile, Chin’ono’s freedom bid has taken a new twist following the state’s application to have the matter heard privately.
