ZANU PF member Elaiah Hamandishe appeared in court yesterday on allegations of assaulting some members of the public with iron bars and wooden sticks.
The 53-year-old man allegedly worked in cahoots with 60 other people still at large to assault the victims who failed to chant a Zanu PF slogan as they had instructed them.
Hamandishe, who is facing charges of public violence, was remanded in custody to today when he was arraigned before Harare magistrate Denis Mangosi.
Allegations are that on October 23, the accused person and his accomplices, some of whom were dressed in Zanu PF regalia, went to a house in Eastview, Harare, where they approached three men and forced them to chant a Zanu PF slogan.
When they failed to comply, the accused person then allegedly assaulted the trio all over their bodies with metal bars, iron rods and sticks.
The gang allegedly forcibly took a G-tel X7 plus cellphone and US$45 from the three victims.
The court heard that on the same day at around 2200hours, the gang went to an Eastview shops bar where they allegedly approached another person who was drinking beer and ordered him to chant the same slogan. He did not comply and they started to beat him with a wooden plank on his back.
Hamandishe and his accomplices are also accused of having approached another shopkeeper, who was locking the doors of his shops, and pummelled him with fists, batons and metal bars all over the body.
Prosecutor Anesu Chirenje alleged that on the following day the gang did not stop there, but approached a crowd of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-A) who were preparing to attend their party’s branch audit meeting at an open space in Eastview and ordered them to chant the slogan before beating them with iron bars and wooden sticks.
It is further alleged that during the violence, the accused person stabbed Antony Chimangumangu with a knife on the right hand and he sustained injuries. They then set ablaze a one hundred-seater tent, PA system, a hundred chairs, two tables and interior decor.
Hamandishe reportedly proceeded to one Stephen Chagwiza`s house in Eastview where they used unknown means to destroy his two-roomed house.The accused person was positively identified by some victims prompting his arrest.
Shamaine Chirimujiri
STAFF WRITER