High Court has reserved judgment in the case in which Marry Mubaiwa is appealing for the return of her passport to enable her travel to South Africa for treatment.
Mubaiwa is facing a slew of charges including attempted murder of her former husband, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, fraud, money laundering and assault.
She is a holder of two passports that are being held by the clerk of court at Harare magistrates’ court as part of her bail conditions.
Mubaiwa unsuccessfully applied for the return of her passport at the remand court to enable her travel to South Africa to seek medical attention. She took the matter up to the High Court on appeal, arguing she required immediate and urgent treatment across the Limpopo.
Mubaiwa said she suffers from “severe lymphoedema of all limbs and multiple wounds on both legs, feet, arms and hands”.
Justice Benjamin Chikowero heard submissions from both parties’ legal counsel and reserved judgment to a later date.
He said he required sufficient time to go through the lawyers’ submissions.
Acting for Mubaiwa, Ms Beatrice Mtetwa told Justice Chikowero that her client was in severe pain and required urgent treatment in South Africa as the health facilities in the country were incapacitated to deal with her problem.
She said there were no specialists in the country to deal with her medical condition, thus it was in the best interest of justice to allow her travel across the Limpopo to get treatment. But in her counter-submission, prosecutor Ms Sharon Fero dismissed the defence contention that there were no specialists in the country.
She said the State got in touch with the Ministry of Health and Child Care which confirmed that Mubaiwa’s diseases had underlining conditions which could be attended to by a multidisciplinary team of specialist doctors locally given the nature of her condition.
Ms Fero urged the court to dismiss the appeal, saying the defence misrepresented to the court when it was clear that there were specialists in the country who could handle Mubaiwa’s condition. Earlier, Justice Chikowero had stood down the matter to the afternoon, demanding to see Mubaiwa’s wounds.
However, when she was brought to court, Justice Chikowero had changed his mind.
