Police fail to take Mafume to court

Harare mayor Jacob Mafume will not be taken to court today after police said they had not finished their investigation, lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara has said.

Mafume is now expected to appear in court on Friday.

He is accused of criminal abuse of office over housing stand allocated to his sister in March.

The law provides that any person who is arrested or detained in Zimbabwe for the purpose of bringing him or her before a court or for an alleged offence and is not released, must be brought before a court as soon as possible and in any event not later than 48 hours after the arrest took place or the detention began.

This doesn’t matter whether or not the period ends on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

Any person who is not brought to court within the 48-hour period must be released immediately unless their detention has previously been extended by a competent court.

-Zwnews