By Nyashadzashe Ndoro
The Masvingo High Court has turned down a bail application by opposition MDC Alliance national youth organiser Godfrey Kurauone (33) on the basis that he allegedly committed a similar crime while on bail.
High Court Judge Justice Neville Wamambo remanded Kurauone for 14 days.
Kurauone is accused of singing a protest song that denounced President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He is also accused of blocking a road from Gaths Mine to Chirumanzu in Masvingo province on July 31, the day soldiers and police came out in full force to thwart a protest by citizens backed by opposition parties.
In a statement, MDC Alliance Youth Assembly National Spokesperson Stephen Sarkozy Chuma said the denial of bail for Kurauone was evidence Mnangagwa had captured the country’s courts.
“The denial of bail today of MDC Alliance Youth Organizer Godfrey Kurauone by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s brutal and corrupt regime is totally unacceptable and barbaric.
“This follows hotly after refusals of bail to journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume by the High Court a few weeks ago.
“It is abundantly clear that Emmerson Mnangagwa’s corrupt regime has since consigned the principles of separation of powers of the three arms of government into dustbins.
“What we now have is a domineering Executive that is giving political orders to Judiciary thereby upsetting legal balance.
“The influence of the Executive on the Judiciary effectively puts our justice delivery system into a pit latrine. This is a sad chapter in the history of the country!
“Despite the persecutions by prosecution, we shall not relent in our fight against corruption,” Chuma said.
Kurauone is also a councillor for ward 4, Masvingo Urban.
MDC Alliance vice president Tendai Biti said the denial of bail was unconstitutional and meant to please Mnangagwa’s government.
“The Masvingo High Court has denied Godfrey Kuraone bail Bail is a constitutional right .The principles of bail are basic and elementary. They can’t be rewritten to suit the dictates of a deranged authoritarian cult. The Constitution must be upheld,” Biti said. Nehanda Radio
