High Court to rule on Mzembi discharge bid on February 17

High Court judge Justice Benjamin Chikowero will on February 17 decide whether former cabinet minister Walter Mzembi should be discharged at the close of the State’s case, marking a decisive stage in his trial for alleged criminal abuse of office.

The State closed its case on Tuesday after leading evidence from four witnesses, including investigating officer Eric Chacha of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.

Chacha told the court that Mzembi breached government procedures when he facilitated the donation of public viewing screens to three churches Walter Magaya’s Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries, Emmanuel Makandiwa’s UFIC, and Nehemiah Mutendi’s Zion Christian Church.

He said Treasury had authorised the purchase of public viewing screens and given concurrence for some to be loaned to government institutions, but there was no such approval for the church donations. “Investigations revealed there was no treasury concurrence at the time these screens were loaned to the churches,” he testified.

Prosecutor Beaven Muravanhema then formally closed the State’s case, asserting that the evidence established impropriety on the part of the former minister.

Mzembi’s lawyers, Emmanuel Samundombe and Killian Mandiki, immediately applied for discharge, arguing the State had failed to prove a prima facie case.

Samundombe said “we hope justice will prevail,” insisting the evidence presented “does not warrant placement of the accused person to his defence.”

“Put simply, he should not be asked to say his side of the story because the evidence of the State does not in itself substantiate the allegations that they have placed before the court,” he said. He added that the defence would also apply for bail pending the ruling because “the evidence led so far does not put the accused person in a position where he can be said to be a flight risk.”

“We are going to be approaching the same court for bail because the evidence is clear that most of the issues that were being speculated around these allegations are not very accurate,” he said.

Chikowero will deliver his ruling on the discharge application on February 17, effectively determining whether Mzembi will be acquitted at this stage or placed on his defence as the trial enters its next phase.