The on-going load shedding has derailed the on-going trial of the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga—Marry Mubaiwa by two days.
The former model has been held up at the Harare Magistrate Court for two days waiting for a decision on whether she will stand trial for charges of attempting to kill her husband and money laundering.
Magistrate Lazin Ncube could not deliver the judgment due to power outages that have become a norm in the country.
Ncube had set the 15th November 2021 as a date he was set to rule on whether Marry was fit to stand trial but the blackout forced the postponement to the 16th of November, 2021.
The matter was latter on reserved for today 16 November 2021 at 0900, but still there was no electricity at the courts
The Vice President’s estranged wife described the electricity blackout as sabotage from his husband
“My husband is abusing state resources to torcher me, other courts are functioning very well but mine since it’s a special case it is allocated its own room (court 11) and nothing is being done there they are blaming electricity”
“My lawyer ended up leaving as she had other commitments to attend to, and I couldn’t leave as I am afraid that they will find a charge to arrest me since I am not even allowed to delay with even 5 seconds” she added
Chiwenga’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa criticized the Judicial Services Commission for misplaced priorities
“They are busy buying latest discoveries, land cruisers and not buying an alternative power source at their premises”
Chiwenga has been in and out of the courts since 2019 after allegations of attempting to murder her husband, laundering money among other cases before the courts.
Her trial had been paused because her lawyer Mtetwa, argued that due to her sickness Chiwenga is not fit to stand trial.
She was then assigned doctors from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals to examine her and tell the courts if she is fit to stand trial.
The doctors gave their expert opinion and the judgement on whether or not she would stand for trial will be delivered this afternoon.
If the judgement is in her favor, she is tipped to have her passport back to seek medical attention in South Africa.
