Zimbabwe Withdraws Anti-Government Plot Charges Against MDC MPs

The Zimbabwean state has withdrawn charges of subversion against two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MPs from Kwekwe, owing to a lack of evidence to begin trial proceedings. 

Settlement Chikwinya, MP for Mbizo, and Lloyd Mukapiko, MP for Redcliff, stood accused of inciting and participating in public violence during fierce anti-government protests that rocked the country in January of this year. The protests are considered to be the worst the country has faced since the fall of President Mugabe in November 2017. 

Witnesses claimed the pair had spoken at a predominantly MDC gathering in downtown Kwekwe on the 14th January, encouraging listeners to engage in acts of public violence. They were arrested and held in custody for 19 days. 

In August, Kwekwe magistrate Story Rushambwa cleared the MPs of the charges of inciting and participating in public violence, concluding that the state had failed to come up with a solid case against the defendants. However, the legislators still had to answer to the lesser charge of subversion, which was finally withdrawn last week. 

Chikwinya and Mukapiko both denied the accusations of inciting violence, insisting that the charges were politically motivated. Chikwinya testified that he was at a local pub when the violence broke out and indicated that the state’s witnesses had been his political adversaries since 2000. Mukapiko similarly told the court that he was at the Vehicle Inspection Department at the time of the alleged offence.  

The prosecution withdrew the charges on the day of the trial, before the MPs’ lawyer Brian Dube could enter a plea for lack of evidence.