Retired Elder Rex M.E Midzi

What started as an evening of cleaning some of my records turned into a mini dancehall session. I have put seven or eight tunes on this video, going right back to the foundation of dancehall music, to the days when I was a young boy going to Level Vibes in Highfield, Harare. These are the tunes that were blazing from the 1980s through to the 1990s, the sound of an era that shaped a generation and still moves a dancefloor today. Enjoy yourselves.

This is a misreading of what happened at the Harare Magistrates Court today. Marry Mubaiwa, the former wife of Zimbabwe's Vice President, previously known as Marry Chiwenga, was not acquitted. The trial magistrate, Feresi Chakanyuka, was promoted from the Magistrates Court to the High Court in August, where she now sits as a judge. Because of her elevation, she could not continue presiding over the trial, and the State was required to find a new magistrate and start the case afresh. Instead of moving the case forward, the State asked for yet another postponement, telling the court it needed more time to locate witnesses and reissue summonses. Mubaiwa's lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, opposed the application on several grounds. She told the court that even before Chakanyuka was elevated, the State had spent 22 months seeking postponements because the complainant was not available, something the defence had objected to throughout. She argued that the State had been given since August, when Chakanyuka was appointed to the High Court, to put its house in order, and had failed to do so. She also reminded the court that the defence had given formal notice that it would oppose any further postponement if the State was not ready for trial by 21 October. Mtetwa further pointed out that although Mubaiwa was arrested in December 2019, the trial only began in February 2023, meaning the total delay in the case now stands at seven years. The magistrate refused to postpone the matter any further, and Mubaiwa was removed from remand. That is all that happened. The charges have not gone away. If the State gets its case in order, it can still reinstate the charge and summon Mubaiwa back to court, although the defence has made it clear that it would challenge any such move. The headlines claiming she was acquitted are therefore wrong. An acquittal comes only through a judgment, and no judgment has been delivered. The trial, which has dragged on for seven years, stalled when the presiding magistrate was promoted, and it has never been concluded. That is the correct position.