Zimbabwean opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume who has been in remand for the past 43 days has been granted bail by High Court judge Justice Siyabona Musithu.
This is his fourth attempt since being detained on July 20 after calling for anti-government protests against corruption and the country’s economic crisis.
Ngarivhume was denied bail three times together with freelance journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, who is still detained at Chikurubi Maximum Prison.
Chin’ono, who had tweeted his support for the protests, is also expecting a verdict on a bail application on Wednesday.
The protests had been planned for 31 July, the second anniversary of a general election won by President Emmerson Mnangagwa amid accusations of fraud.
The demonstrations were subsequently banned on the grounds of coronavirus restrictions.
High Court judge Siyabona Musithu on Wednesday granted Ngarivhume’s appeal against the ruling of a lower court that had denied him bail and said, “The magistrate erred.”
Justice Siyabona Musitu granted the Transform Zimbabwe leader the bail on condition that he does not use Twitter until his case is finalized, should surrender his passport to the court and report to the police three times a week.
The politician was ordered to pay 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($138), surrender his passport and report to the police three times a week.
Ngarivhume was arrested on the same day as prominent journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and charged with inciting the public to commit violence. The two men have denied the allegations.
The planned rallies were denounced by Mnangagwa as “an insurrection to overthrow our democratically elected government”, while the police banned them, citing coronavirus restrictions.
Still, some 20 activists held demonstrations in their neighbourhoods, including award-winning author and Booker Prize nominee Tsitsi Dangarembga. They were arrested and have since been freed on bail.
Government critics and opposition activists accuse the government of attempting to muzzle the press and using the COVID-19 lockdown to arrest, harass and torture activists. The government denies the accusations.
In neighbouring South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday he would be sending a second batch of envoys to Zimbabwe within “days” in a fresh attempt to resolve the crisis.
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