Biti Bail Conditions Relaxed As Magistrate Warns Prosecutor

Harare East MP Tendai Biti on Tuesday got a bit of a relief after a court scrapped all his bail reporting conditions.

Harare magistrate Elisha Singano ruled that there was no point being hard on him considering that the State did not appear to be ready for trial.

Biti Bail Conditions Relaxed As Magistrate Warns Prosecutor

The little favour came a few days after his attempt to get his passport back to travel to Tunisia and South Africa failed.

On every remand, the state must justify need for continuous postponements. Remands on their own infringe on an accused person’s freedom. Therefore, there should a good reason for pushing cases further,” the magistrate said.

"There are no genuine reasons why the accused should continue reporting (to the police). As such all reporting conditions against the accused are hereby cancelled.”

Biti was now reporting to the police twice a week. Initially, he had been ordered to report twice a day.

Prosecutor Michael Reza promised to announce the trial date on Biti’s next remand.