Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The State has withdrawn charges against 119 villagers in Gwanda who had been arrested and charged for allegedly occupying state land unlawfully and were targeted for eviction by the Government.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), among those arrested included a nonagenarian, a octogenarian, septuagenarians, sexagenarians and youths.
In a statement issued on 23 February, ZLHR said 180 villagers were apprehended by the police on 07 February and charged with occupying gazetted land without lawful authority as defined in section 3(1)(4) as read with section 5 of the Gazetted Land Consequential Provisions.
The 180 villagers, who reside in the Nyandeni community in Gwanda North in Matabeleland South Province, were accused of unlawfully holding, using or occupying land at Hollins Block Estate in Gwanda, which is gazetted land and without lawful authority.
Upon their arrest on 7 February, the 180 villagers endured two nights in police detention and were only set free on 9 February after prosecutors declined to prosecute them.
That was after their lawyers Jabulani Mhlanga of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and Mitchell Chigova of Mabhikwa and Partners Legal Practitioners, challenged how their arrest had been effected.
The lawyers argued that it fell short of the provisions of section 50 of the Constitution and the lack of documentary evidence, which informed the arrests that they were merely done to investigate rather than to prosecute.
The villagers were then summoned to appear at Gwanda Magistrates Court on 23 February, where prosecutors filed an application seeking to formally place them on remand. However, their lawyers challenged the prosecutors’ bid to place the 180 villagers on remand.
In an update on the case on Monday, 26 February, the ZLHR said the State had withdrawn charges against 119 villagers and opted to prosecute only 61 villagers. Said ZLHR:
UPDATED: We stopped the prosecution of 119 villagers in Gwanda, who had been arrested and charged for allegedly occupying state land and targeted for eviction by the government.
Our lawyers vigorously challenged the prosecution of the villagers arguing that they had not committed any offence resultantly, prosecutors withdrew charges against 119 villagers and opted to prosecute only 61 villagers.
In withdrawing charges against the villagers, prosecutors conceded that they had no evidence at all to link them to the commission of the alleged offence.
The villagers’ lawyers Jabulani Mhlanga of [Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights] and Mitchel Chigova of Mabhikwa Legal Practitioners, had argued that their clients possessed the requisite documents authorising their stay at their homesteads on the pieces of land which they were occupying.
The 61 villagers, who were placed on remand, will return to Gwanda Magistrates Court on 26 March, when their trial is scheduled to commence.
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