Rushwaya cleared on US$5000 bribery allegations
Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) President Ms Henrietta Rushwaya has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a case she stood accused of offering a US$5,000 bribe to an airport official in a bid illegally pass through a checkpoint with 6kgs of gold.
Harare Magistrate Learnmore Mapiye ruled that the State’s case was too weak for any reasonable court to convict.
Speaking after the ruling Rushwaya’s lawyer Mr Peter Pathisani said it was a happy day for his client as the matter had been sensationalised from the day Rushwaya was arrested.
“Our client has been acquitted. The court made a finding that the state had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt that is the essence of the acquittal for the accused person. You would note that just looking at the evidence in total that the state accused before the court, it was not striking evidence convincing enough that they had a case against our client. Which is why we saw it that even she then goes on the stand to give her defence, her side of the story, it was just going to give a final blow to the state case which already was very weak. Yes of course we had to go on our defence to explain why, 1. It was not in dispute that we were at the airport on the day. 2. It was also not in dispute that gold was discovered in her bag. But the charge that we were facing was one of bribery and the state had to prove that indeed our client offered the alleged bribe amount. But the state failed to prove that evidence with the witnesses that it called before the courts. There it is a good judgement, its a good day for justice especially for our client as you know the matter has been sensationalised from the day that she had been arrested so as a result its a happy day for our client,” Pathisani said.
During trial, Rushwaya testified that when she realised that she had carried the wrong bag, she asked the police to accompany her to her house to collect the correct bag which the police allegedly later collected upon her arrest.
“As we speak both of the similar bags are at the police station,” Rushwaya added.
Rushwaya also told the court that witnesses might be lying against her as a result of external forces who might want to tarnish her reputation and inorder to ruin her chances of remaining ZMF President in future elections.