The trial of Sybeth Musengezi, a former Zanu PF member, has exposed the shambolic nature of the ruling party’s cell registers after his lawyer Douglas Coltart successfully presented evidence of numerous instances of erroneous membership information.
Coltart, who is representing Musengezi accused of fraudulently forging a residential address in the ZANU PF membership cell sheets, questioned ZANU PF Harare chairperson, Goodwills Masimirembwa on the party’s cell sheets citing numerous examples of inaccurate information.
During the cross-examination, Coltart spent over an hour presenting numerous examples from the ZANU PF cell sheets that demonstrated the presence of false information.
One striking example was the case of Sandra Pfambi, who appeared in three different ZANU PF cells in the same year.
Notably, she had three different dates of birth and two different addresses within the same year.
Moreover, she was recorded as a member of the ZANU PF Youth League, despite being ineligible based on all three of her recorded birth dates.
Another instance highlighted was that of Keneth Samson, who appeared twice in the same cell with two different addresses.
At one point during the cross-examination, Masimirembwa humorously thanked Coltart for bringing these irregularities to light.
Although Tafara Chirambira objected, claiming repetitiveness in Coltart’s line of questioning, Coltart justified his approach by emphasizing that each question pertained to different entries in the cell sheets.
He argued that the reliability of the information contained in the ZANU PF cell sheets was a crucial aspect of the case and stated that the defense should not be dictated to by the State on how to conduct their argument.
Meanwhile, Masimirembwa, as the ZANU PF Harare chairperson, testified that Musengezi’s alleged fraudulent registration as a party member had a detrimental impact on the ruling party.
When the trial began in May 2023 before Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda, Masimirembwa asserted that the party’s intention was not to attack Musengezi for challenging President Emerson Mnangagwa’s presidency within the party.
He further stated that ZANU PF does not engage in silencing members with grievances and denied any involvement in victimizing Musengezi.
Masimirembwa also informed the court that the investigation into Musengezi’s membership was triggered by her application filed at the High Court.
The trial is set to continue.
