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MDC MP and two others exonerated over Cain Nkala’s murder
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Extracted from Crisis in Zimbabwe Weekly Update
July 18, 2004

On Monday 12 July 2004, the State conceded before Justice Sandra Mungwira that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Member of Parliament for Lobengula-Magwegwe, Fletcher Dulini-Ncube and two other officials Nicholas Masera and Army Zulu were not linked to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Bualwayo war veteran leader Cain Nkala in November 2001.

The State told the court that there was no evidence against the three. The concession was made after a trial within a trial in which the High Court ruled that the evidence brought before it by the investigating officers was inadmissible.

In the trial within a trial the judge ruled that the evidence extracted from Moyo and Sibanda could not be used in court because the accused persons were tortured by State security officers while in the case of Dulini-Ncube the State failed to link him to the alleged murder of Nkala.

But Remember Moyo, Kethani Sibanda and Sazini Mpofu will have to prove their innocence in the case.

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition would want to applaud the High Court for its determination to have fair trial. The concession by the State is also the right decision in the administration of justice although it was done two years late.

The fundamental lesson drawn from this case is the importance of judicial independence, which Justice Mungwira has managed to uphold, given the political nature of the case. Such professional conduct by judicial officers gives public confidence to the country’s justice system.

However, justice delayed is justice denied. For the past two years Dulini-Ncube has literally been a prisoner and has served a two year-jail term at the hands of the state media. The state media, which carried out its own trial, vilified him and state functionaries haunted him during the time. He is not going to get any compensation fro all the tribulations and this takes the sweetness out of his victory.

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