High Court delays hearing of Jacob Ngarivhume appe...

High Court delays hearing of Jacob Ngarivhume appeal

Zim Now Writer

The High Court has delayed the hearing of an appeal by Transform Zimbabwe president, Jacob Ngarivhume, who is currently in custody after he was convicted for inciting violence.

The postponement comes after the State failed to submit its heads of arguments due to the inefficiency of the recently rolled out e-system at the High Court.

The matter will now be heard on November 14.

Ngarivhume is being represented by National Constitution Assembly president, Lovemore Madhuku.

Madhuku said they will also be seeking recusal of judge, Benjamin Chikowero on grounds that he turned down his application for bail pending appeal.

“We are going to be seeking that he (Chikowero) should be excused from the matter. The reason is that he is the judge who presided over the application for bail pending appeal by Ngarivhume.

“He dismissed the application. When he dismissed that application he made an opinion that there were no reasonable prospects of success so obviously we would need another judge because he already has something to show that the appeal will not be successful,” said Madhuku soon after the matter was postponed.

Ngarivhume was convicted and jailed on charges of inciting public violence after calling for nationwide protests on July 31, 2020.

He is, however, serving three years effective after part of his sentence was suspended conditionally.

In sentencing him, the lower court took into consideration that Ngarivhume “is a first offender”, adding that “a fine or suspended sentence would not deter further offenders, a sentence must be meaningful”.