FORMER Zanu PF Chegutu West Member of Parliament, Dexter Nduna says detractors are bent on ending his political career by engineering frivolous charges to prompt his imprisonment.
The sustained machinations, Nduna says, have, however, been consistently thwarted by the country's professional judiciary, which has thrown out several trumped-up charges against him.
The 54-year-old politician was freed together with former police superintendent Wonder Chisikwa, and renowned gold miner, Tawanda Marufu. The charge, which carries a mandatory two-year jail term, was hanging around their necks since 2019.
Speaking exclusively to New Zimbabwe.com last Friday following his acquittal, alongside two accomplices, of charges of illegally prospecting for gold without a licence or permit, the former lawmaker took aim at his political enemies who colluded with some corrupt police officers."Definitely l feel good. It was always a politically-motivated arrest. It does show that the police were a willing participant in all this but the judiciary refused to bow down to political pressure to necessarily criminalise me where there was no evidence, completely, for such malicious, vexatious and frivolous machinations which were bent on petty political victimisation," said Nduna.
"I have been vindicated, l have always been a free man. l was basically carrying out my mandate as a legislator but my political enemies thought otherwise and attached me to the courts for five years, basically from 2019 to 2024, but l am now free. According to the law, l was always free.
"It was basically a fishing expedition by my political enemies...the police were quite a willing participant in this criminalisation which was not found ever in the eyes of the court. I am quite elated but this is a judgement that has come in late..."
The former parliamentarian lamented that his co-accused Chisikwa, who was a superintendent and deputy district police commander (DISPOL minor) in Chegutu district at the time of the alleged crime, was forced to resign from his job due to the case.
Nduna showered praises on the country's judiciary for its professionalism in the face of attempts to manipulate it by political actors.
"I applaud the judgement, our judiciary is still quite intact and they have definitely stuck to their guns," said Nduna, himself a law student at the University of ZImbabwe (UZ).
In his judgement, Magistrate Stanley Mambanje sitting at Chinhoyi Court Complex last week, found the trio not guilty resulting in the acquittal.
"Prospecting includes geological mapping, rock and soil assay analysis, and sometimes the intuition of the prospector. Numerous gold prospecting techniques have been used in gold prospecting ranging from traditional and contemporary methods...
"In casu, the accused persons were arrested for having collected some soil. The allegations didn't go beyond that.
"In conclusion, the allegations that accused persons took soil away without further ado did not prove the offence of contravening section 368 of the Mines and Minerals Act. There was need for evidence of where they took the soil and what they did with it. Nothing was availed before the court to show for any conduct depicting traditional or scientific examination.
"Put simply, we hear nothing pertaining to panning, or taking the ore to any laboratory. This cannot be inferred or presumed."
The presiding magistrate said the State case, as presented by the prosecution led by Herald Matura, was weak to prompt a conviction.
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"In the final analysis, therefore, l am inclined to find that the evidence led was short of satisfying all the requisite elements of the offence as charge in section 368 of the Act. In the result, l return the following verdict, all three accused persons are found not guilty and are acquitted," ruled Mambanje.
Upon their arrest in 2019, the trio was initially charged alongside then Zanu PF youth leader Vengai Musengi, then Chegutu Rural District Council chairperson, Tatenda Gwinji, and Nyasha Nyikadzino.
Along the way, the others were cleared of any wrongdoing and set free.
Allegations were that sometime in November 2019, Nduna and co-accused persons facilitated extraction of mineral ore from David Whitehead Company waste deposit tanks where there was a pit which had been dug by illegal miners, who were prospecting for the precious mineral following reports of a gold rush.
