SIMBARASHE MTEMBO
MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – Gutu Magistrate Molly Gwatida has today granted US$70 bail each to five CCC activists jailed for nine months for public violence ahead of a Nelson Chamisa rally in Gutu West.
The five applied for bail after filing an appeal against sentence and conviction at the High Court in Masvingo on Monday. They have spent two weeks in prison after they were convicted by Gutu Magistrate Mitchel Panavanhu.
Their bail application is premised on the appeal filed at the High Court by their lawyer Martin Mureri of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
“Aggrieved by the conviction, applicants noted an appeal to the High Court, the grounds of which are annexed hereto and marked annexure A. It is against this background that the applicants have approached this honourable court in an application for their release on bail pending appeal,” reads part of the bail statement.
The five CCC activists are Patrick Chimbare, Tapiwa Chiro, Brian Sithole, Takudzwa Mashiri and Providence Goremasandu. They were guarding an open space at Chiriga Business Centre near Chatsworth in Gutu West on November 7, 2023 when they clashed with Zanu PF supporters.
The CCC supporters were immediately arrested and whisked to court where they each paid US$20 bail.
Former CCC president Nelson Chamisa was supposed to address a Gutu West parliamentary by-election rally on the next day. Ephraim Morudu of CCC was contesting against Zanu PF’s John Paradza, National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Robson Kurwa and an independent candidate Martin Sebastian Mudzingwa.The Zanu PF youth involved in the violence are yet to be arrested despite witnesses in the case telling the court that the Zanu PF youth who were led by Robson Gahadzikwa are holding meetings and distributing pesticides to party supporters.