By Faith Zaba and Herbert Moyo
For one facing serious charges of attempting to subvert a constitutionally-elected government or alternatively attempting to commit an act of insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism, Sunday Mail Editor Edmund Kudzayi cuts a defiant figure.
Clad in a checked jacket, sky blue shirt, maroon tie and navy blue trousers when he appeared before Harare Provincial Magistrate Vakayi Douglas Chikwekwe last Saturday, Kudzayi remained calm and appeared smug as Chief Law Officer Tawanda Zvekare read out the charges in which the state alleges Kudzayi planned and organised with some of his colleagues, the Gunda Nleya Brigade and Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army, to overthrow government through war.
Before the proceedings, Kudzayi managed to crack a joke with Sunday Mail reporters saying: “Why are you not greeting your boss.
Remember I am still your boss, I am still the Sunday Mail Editor.”
Court room 6 was dead silent as relatives and journalists tried to absorb the seriousness of the charges being levelled against Kudzayi, whom police linked to the Baba Jukwa Facebook page, which reportedly encouraged rebellion against government if the July 31 general election of last year were stolen.
Kudzayi has denied allegations that he is Baba Jukwa.
He has even scoffed at the charges and mocked the police, describing the allegations as ridiculous and “not only laughable but are a clear abuse of the criminal justice system by those in the corridors of power who are afraid that I can use my technological expertise to expose those who actually supplied the real Baba Jukwa with blow by blow details of sensitive meetings within Zanu PF and the Zimbabwean government, and also the real people behind it.”
He accused the state of backstabbing him yet he was helping it unmask the people behind Baba Jukwa.
According to an affidavit filed with the High Court for his bail application hearing today and also according to arguments people close to him say he will use in his defence, Kudzayi says “the million dollar issue is I did not commit this offence of which it is an exceptional circumstance that I will probably be acquitted given … that the evidence below clearly shows that the state’s case against me is non-existent”.
Kudzayi says he is actually a victim of Baba Jukwa on his Facebook page.
He said there is no “iota” of evidence linking him to Baba Jukwa as the number used was only activated three months after the setting up of the Gmail account. Zimbabwe Independent