Mpofu and Chimombe face charges of defrauding the state out of millions in the presidential goat scheme.

Jailed businessman Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu say the chances of them getting a fair trial are slim as their case was about political persecution as they raised questions about controversial landlord Wicknell Chivayo going unscathed.

Mpofu and Chimombe face charges of defrauding the state out of millions in the presidential goat scheme.

Chimombe and Mpofu accuse the state and the courts of violating their rights, saying they have been repeatedly denied bail, even though it is a right.

The two said this through their lawyers as they presented evidence before High Court Judge, Justice Pisirayi Kwenda, on their application to the Constitutional Court.

Chimombe and Mpofu also accuse the judge of unilaterally accepting a request for the matter to be broadcast live without any input or input from their lawyers.

They alleged that the decision to allow live streaming or streaming of the proceedings on various media platforms was taken without their and the state’s participation and consent.

“On the third day of the hearing, the learned judge is not clear whether in the presence of the assessors or not he indicated that the court started late because he received in chambers a request for a live transmission of the proceedings of the trial,” the two said.

“The learned judge advised that he had granted the request for the media to broadcast the proceedings live in chambers.

“This alleged request was admitted in the absence of the accused persons and to the exclusion of the state.

“It is also not clear who the complainants were.

“It is not clear who were the parties to that application as the accused persons were not subpoenaed nor served with a copy of this application.”

The two want the Constitutional Court to determine whether the continued detention violated their rights as accused persons.

They claimed they were being punished after they were wrongly accused of leaking Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) tender documents and audios of Chivayo bragging about how he bribed certain government officials.

The two want Justice Kwenda to grant their request to refer their case to the Concourt and also stay the proceedings of the trial pending the ConCourt’s decision.

Prosecutors say the charges stem from tender documents submitted by the two men through a company called Blackdeck Private Limited in September 2021.

The Ministry of Lands has invited tenders for the supply of 632,001 goats under a scheme worth US$87,757,168 to distribute goats nationwide.

Acting on false statements, prosecutors say the ministry still paid 30 percent of the contract in local currency, an amount of ZWL 1.6 billion that would have been equivalent to $7,712,197 in two installments on April 21, 2022 and June. 29, 2022.

The court found that the ministry suffered a loss of $7,380,751.85.

Chimombe and Mpofu said it was puzzling that Chivayo was not charged in the Zec scandal, but that was one of the reasons the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission began investigating them.

They said the goat scandal is being used to distract from the Zec scandal.

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