Temba Mliswa set free
Hurungwe West by-election independent candidate Temba Mliswa, who was arrested on Tuesday on allegations of defacing campaign posters of his rival and Zanu-PF candidate Keith Guzah has been released.
His lawyer Mr Musindo Hungwe said he was released without appearing in court due to the weakness of the case.
“My client Temba Mliswa has been released without appearing in court because we agreed with the prosecution that the charge and facts that constitute the case were not sufficient to warrant the placing of someone on remand,” he said.
“We agreed that the case needs to be referred to the police so that they can approach the court with evidence that links my client to the commissioning of the crime.”
The matter will now proceed by way of summons.
Charges preferred against Mliswa were that he was heard instructing unidentified men to pull down campaign posters belonging to Guzah.
The other charge of assault that had initially been raised was thrown away due to lack of evidence.
Mliswa is said to have been arrested at a road block on his way to Karoi just after Magunje.
Two months ago, the former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman was arrested at Sengwe Business Centre and charged with disrupting a Zanu PF meeting.
Prior to that, Mliswa was arrested for illegally possessing firearms.
However, he was acquitted of the charges.
Mliswa was recalled from Parliament in March along with his uncle and former Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa, after they were controversially booted out of the warring ruling party on allegations of plotting with former vice president Joice Mujuru to topple President Robert Mugabe.
But Mliswa is bidding for a comeback in the constituency as he is standing as an independent candidate.
He has also recently claimed that Zanu PF had deployed armed police and members of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation in the constituency, who were allegedly intimidating his supporters.
