HARARE
–
Jailed
business
partners
Mike
Chimombe
and
Moses
Mpofu
suspect
there
is
a
“third
hand”
that
has
been
active
in
their
recent
court
battles
as
they
also
took
umbrage
with
a
recent
decision
by
High
Court
judge
Pisirayi
Kwenda
to
allow
the
state-owned
ZTN
to
livestream
their
trial
on
alleged
tender
fraud.
In
their
joint
application
for
referral
of
their
case
to
the
Constitutional
Court
now
before
the
High
Court,
the
two
said
this
was
done
without
their
knowledge,
adding
that
the
state
was
also
not
included.
The
two
also
raised
several
issues
which
they
feel
should
be
determined
by
the
Constitutional
Court.
The
issues
include
the
composition
of
the
bench
and
alleged
selective
prosecution,
among
other
things.
“On
the
third
day
of
the
hearing,
the
learned
judge
(it’s
not
clear
whether
in
the
presence
of
assessors
or
not)
indicated
that
court
had
commenced
late
because
he
was
entertaining
in
chambers
an
application
to
have
the
trial
proceedings
livestreamed.
“The
learned
judge
advised
that
he
had
granted
the
application
for
the
media
to
livestream
the
proceedings
in
chambers.
“This
alleged
application
was
entertained
in
the
absence
of
the
accused
persons
and
to
the
exclusion
of
the
state,”
said
the
lawyers.
The
two
also
said
there
seemed
to
be
a
“third
hand”
involved
in
their
prosecution.
They
said
initially
there
was
bail
consent
which
was
turned
down
despite
that
they
were
cooperating
and
had
made
their
first
appearance
coming
from
home.
Bail
issues
usually
do
not
arise
when
an
accused
person
is
coming
from
home.
They
also
said
the
High
Court
refused
to
hear
their
bail
application
under
case
number
183-4/24
on
the
basis
that
their
indictment
precluded
them
to
make
a
bail
application
until
the
trial
date.
The
state
is
yet
to
respond.