JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE
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the place where Nkala’s body was buried in a shallow grave. They were said to have
confessed to having killed Nkala by strangling him with a shoelace and had then
buried him in this grave. The viewers were told that the two men had “voluntarily”
agreed to tell the police where they had buried Nkala. In front of the cameras the
police asked the accused persons about what they had done.
The case of Fletcher Dulini Ncube
Fletcher Dulini Ncube is aged 62. For some time he had suffered from a serious
diabetic condition that required constant medical attention and adherence to a special
diet. When he had been detained for several weeks after the Nkala killing, he was
denied access to special medical treatment and had no special diet. As a result of this,
his eyesight deteriorated badly. After his release as a result of a High Court order, he
had to be hospitalised but he did not regain the full use of his eyes and one of his eyes
deteriorated further. Eventually the doctors decided that there was no choice but to
remove this eye surgically. After the operation his recovery needed to be carefully
monitored by the doctors This operation took place in a private hospital. The next day
as he was recuperating in hospital from this operation the police arrested him and
detained him in the police cells. They were acting on a warrant of arrest following Mr
Justice Chiweshe’s ruling (which is dealt with below). The police arrested Ncube and
took him into custody and placed him in the police cells. Ncube’s lawyers protested to
the police about their actions, pointing out that his doctors had indicated that there
was grave danger that his detention in police cells would lead to infection and that this
would affect his brain. Despite this, the police held him for the most of the day before
eventually taking him back to hospital on 4 August 2002, where he was placed in leg
irons under police guard. Eight officers were assigned to guard him. The leg irons
were later removed, and on 16 August he was granted bail.
Bail applications
Seven of the suspects were eventually granted bail by the High Court and the State
appeal against their release on bail was rejected by the Supreme Court. However, two
of the accused, Khetani Sibanda and Sazini Mpofu, remained in custody. The High
Court ordered the release on bail of the remaining two. On the 21 June 2002 the
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