A ZIMBABWE magistrate has freed an MP, who is a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, after finding that the parliamentarian had been falsely accused of rape.

The brave ruling by Mutare Magistrate Livingstone Chipadze comes amid protestations by Tsvangirai that members of his party are being unfairly “persecuted and prosecuted”.

Chipadze, who found that the state had failed to prove its case, has been in hot water before for authorising the release of MDC members on other charges.

Earlier this year the magistrate was jailed for granting bail to MDC treasurer Roy Bennett. A court ruled that the state’s charges against Chipadze were spurious.

Earlier this week Chipadze authorised the release of MP Trevor Saruwaka who was arrested last year.

The MDC said in a statement: “The withdrawal of the charges against Saruwaka, coming soon after the acquittal of Gutu East MP Ransome Makamure, is enough evidence that the charges against MDC MPs are trumped up.”

The MDC made no comment on yesterday’s conclusion of the two-day SADC meeting in DRC, at which the political situation in Zimbabwe came under discussion.

By The Times (SA)