Cde Wadyajena
Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
GOKWE-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena wants court proceedings halted in his trial for criminal insult after taking his case to the Constitutional Court. The lawmaker’s lawyer, Givemore Muvhiringi, yesterday made an application for stay of proceedings pending determination by the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the charges that he is facing.
The defence made a direct application to the ConCourt recently challenging Victoria Falls magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa’s dismissal of an application to have the case referred to the apex court.
Wadyajena, 35, is facing two counts of criminal insult, one for allegedly insulting Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge’s wife, Cde Letina Munamato Undenge, and another for allegedly insulting another Zanu-PF member Cde Jimayi Muduvuri from Mashonaland West.
Both crimes were allegedly committed last December during the party’s 15th Annual People’s Conference in Victoria Falls. Wadyajena was back in court yesterday and the magistrate cancelled a warrant of arrest issued against him when he skipped court last month after it was established that he had been on parliamentary business in Zambia at the time.
Muvhiringi said if court proceedings were allowed, his client would face irreparable prejudice in the event that the ConCourt rules otherwise.
“We approached the Constitutional Court in terms of Section 85 (1) of the Constitution and it’s our humble prayer that trial be stayed pending finalisation of the application so as to allow the Constitutional Court to make a ruling on that particular application for referral to it,” the lawyer said.
“If the lower court is to proceed with trial while there’s an application pending at the highest court, he’s going to suffer irreparable prejudice in the event that the ConCourt later rules that charges are unconstitutional. This will also render proceedings academic and set the two courts on a collision course which isn’t desirable.”
Takunda Ndovorwi, for the State, said he needed time to respond to the application and will file his response on May 3. Maphosa will make a ruling on the application for stay of proceedings on June 6, the date when Wadyajena is expected back in court after he said he will be attending Parliament for the whole of next month.
The defence feels the charges are unconstitutional, following a declaration by the ConCourt that Section 41 of the Criminal Law was unconstitutional.