The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has expressed concern over the length of time it has taken to set bail for four members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) who were detained on 17 May.

Development Diaries reports that the forum, in a letter addressed to Harare Provincial magistrate, Vongai Guwuriro-Muchuchuti, said the delays were unjustified given that bail proceedings are inherently urgent.

It is understood that the four ZINASU members – Emmanuel Sitima, Comfort Mpofu, Tawanda Watadza and Lionel Madamombe – were arrested on charges of malicious damage to property.

‘We are concerned about what we consider undue delays in the treatment and determination of bail for our clients, who were arrested on 17 May 2023’, the letter read.

‘To this day, 30 May, 2023, bail proceedings are yet to be finalised on account of delays for which we think should and can be avoided, given that bail proceedings are inherently urgent’.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a 2022 report, noted that the human rights climate in Zimbabwe deteriorated in the year as the government failed to take any meaningful steps to uphold rights and ensure justice for serious past abuses primarily committed by state security forces.

In its 2023 Freedom in the World report on political rights and civil liberties, Freedom House ranked Zimbabwe as ‘not free’, with the southern African country earning 28 points out of a possible 100.

Development Diaries calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to adhere to section 50 of the country’s constitution and section 117A of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which provides for the elimination of undue delay of bail applications.

Photo source: New Zimbabwe