SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Pishai Muchauraya, the former MDC-T MP for Makoni South who was convicted on Tuesday for making death threats to a political rival, will appeal against the conviction at the High court. Muchauraya is alleged to have threatened his political contender Geoff Nyarota and the party’s treasurer for Women’s Assembly in the same constituency. He was also fined US$200 (or 20 days in prison). He pleaded not guilty to the two counts of threatening to commit murder when he appeared before Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe. ‘Whilst I’m not at liberty to make some comments on the conviction or conduct of the court, I think it is very important to note that it was politically motivated and the judgment was political,’ the former MP said. He added: ‘We are going to appeal against the conviction and not necessarily the sentence, because it is within the confines of the law, but it is the harshness of the determination of the conviction that we do not agree with.’ The MDC-T spokesman for Manicaland said while he had no problem with Nyarota, he had no kind words for the MDC-T leadership, which he blamed for what he went through. When Nyarota and Muchauraya fell out earlier this year, both of them made representations to the senior leadership to try and intervene, but nothing was done, leading to the issue being dragged to the courts. ‘Nyarota would still be useful in some of our party systems. Technically we need him but we should not only strive for general democracy in our party but also internal democracy. This will allow paying attention to views of some people who might not be occupying senior posts in the party,’ Muchauraya added.