By Staff Reporter
THE State has withdrawn murder charges against two Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) leaders, Obert Masaraure and Robson Chere.
The two were on remand for allegedly assaulting and murdering their colleague, Roy Issa eight years ago.
Masaraure, the president of ARTUZ and Chere, the Secretary-General of the same union, who have been out of prison custody on bail, had been appearing in court since June 2022 and July 2022 respectively, when they were arrested by police officers for murder.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was alleging that on 11 June 2016, Masaraure and Chere together with four unnamed accomplices, went on a drinking spree in Harare with Issa, whereafter a misunderstanding with him.
It was being alleged that they reportedly ganged up against him and assaulted him on the head with unknown weapons resulting in his death.
The prosecutors charged that Masaraure and Chere, who were represented by Doug Coltart and Beatrice Mtetwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), concealed the offence by falsely claiming that Isa fell from the balcony of Jameson Hotel resulting in his death.
Issa’s body, prosecutors said, was found lying some six metres away from Jameson Hotel along Park Street in Harare.
On Wednesday November 27, 2024, prosecutors withdrew murder charges against Masaraure after informing the presiding magistrate that the NPA could not take the trade unionist’s matter to court as ZRP officers were still conducting some investigations, of which they have been reportedly doing so for the past eight years since June 2016.
“The prosecutors conceded that it was no longer tenable for them to use the justification of conducting investigations as an excuse to keep Masaraure on remand and for him to continue appearing in court answering to the alleged murder charges.
“Earlier on, prosecutors on Friday 11 October 2024, withdrew murder charges against Chere after informing Harare Magistrate Dennis Mangosi that law enforcement agents were still conducting some investigations since June 2016, hence his trial could also not commence,” said ZLHR.
