Mnangagwa Legitimacy Challenger, Sybeth Musengezi, Acquitted
Sybeth Msengezi, a ZANU-PF activist who challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ascendancy to power following the November 2017 coup, has been acquitted by the Harare Magistrates Court on a fraud charge.
Msengezi was accused of fraud, with the State alleging that he had misrepresented his residential address to ZANU-PF for personal gain – a charge he had consistently denied.
In a recent ruling that vindicated Msengezi’s position, the presiding magistrate, Yeukai Dzuda, upheld his application for discharge at the close of the State’s case.
The magistrate determined that the circumstances under which Msengezi became a member of ZANU-PF were not issues of a criminal nature.
In his application for discharge, Msengezi had highlighted that in the State’s own outline, the person to whom he was alleged to have made the misrepresentation was one Allan Chisuko. He said (via ZimLive):
However, none of the witnesses even stated that to be the case (which in any event would be inadmissible hearsay evidence) and Mr Chisuko, himself, was never called as a witness despite the investigating officer confirming that he was interviewed by the police.
Thus, an essential element of the offence was not proven, even on a prima facie basis, and therefore acquittal must follow.
In fact, contrary to the State Outline, all of the evidence tendered by the State actually demonstrates that it is highly likely that the accused’s defence is true and that he did not provide the addresses in question.
The State’s case rests entirely on the ZANU PF Cell and Branch sheets and on an assumption, which assumption is not backed by any evidence whatsoever, that it must have been the accused who provided the information contained therein.
However, that assumption is contradicted by the evidence before the court.
None of the State witnesses could give first-hand evidence about how any of the information contained in the ZANU PF Cell and Branch sheets had been collected as none were present.
Therefore, none of the State witnesses could dispute the defence’s contention that the ZANU PF cell and Branch sheet information is collected in a chaotic and haphazard manner, whereby information is routinely collected about people not in the presence.
Msengezi was charged with fraud after he allegedly misrepresented his residential address to the ruling party in 2012.
This charge came after Msengezi had challenged Mnangagwa’s legitimacy in 2021, arguing that the incumbent had illegally taken advantage of the military coup that removed the late President Robert Mugabe in November 2017.
Msengezi’s lawyers argued that the police charges were an attempt to strip him of his ZANU-PF membership and, consequently, his legal standing (locus standi) to challenge Mnangagwa’s ascension to power.
They contended that the allegations were not criminal in nature and were fabricated to punish Msengezi for challenging the legitimacy of the president
More: Pindula News
