Fidelis Munyoro — South Africa-based business tycoon Frank Buyanga has launched a fresh High Court application, challenging the legality of the arrest warrant that led to his incarceration in that country, pending extradition back home to face prosecution on charges of kidnapping and robbery.
Buyanga has been in custody awaiting extradition proceedings since November 10, 2022, after his arrest by the South African police at the request of Zimbabwean authorities.
He is embroiled in a protracted legal battle with his former girlfriend, Chantelle Muteswa, over custody of the estranged couple's minor child. A warrant of arrest was issued against him by a Harare magistrate's court after he took the boy to South Africa without the mother's consent.
At one point the warrant was cancelled, only to be reinstated after the prosecution successfully applied for its reinstatement at the High Court early last year.
In an application brought under a certificate of urgency, Buyanga wants an order declaring that he is not a fugitive from justice and so a warrant of arrest against him is invalid and should be set aside.
He also wants the extradition activated against him by the National Prosecuting Authority invalidated. The hearing of the fresh application before Justice Pisirayi Kwenda last week was deferred at the behest of the judge.
The judge directed the respondents among them NPA, Ms Muteswa, the Commissioner General of Police, Minister of Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Attorney General's Office to file opposition papers if they wish to challenge the application.
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Buyanga would be required to file his answering affidavit, together with his heads of argument by Friday. All the respondents have up to September 10 to file their heads of argument before the registrar schedules the matter for hearing with minimum delay.
Buyanga seeks to impugn the warrant of arrest on the basis that it was issued contrary to the law.
"The warrant was premature in that it was issued to give an impression that I was fleeing the jurisdiction yet I had left prior to its issuance. I was not and remain not a fugitive from justice." he said.
In August 2021, Ms Muteswa filed a police report after Buyanga allegedly led three armed men to storm a supermarket car park in Waterfalls where she had been parked and kidnapped their then five-year-old son from the car.
She also claimed that Buyanga's henchmen had physically assaulted her and her mother and stolen her bag with US$2 000 before speeding off in a white bakkie.
