Wandale denied bail
The Blantyre Magistrate’s court has denied bail to the self proclaimed leader of the United States of Thyolo and Mulanje and Peoples’ Land Organisation, Vincent Wandale.
Wandale, together with 21 others, have since been remanded at Chichiri Prison awaiting trial which has been set for Thursday, September 8 2016.
Wandale and his followers will answer four charges of conspiracy to commit misdemeanour, unauthorised use of land, inciting violence and criminal trespass. He was arrested on September 2 2016 while 21 of his followers were arrested on September 1.
Making his ruling, Principal Resident Magistrate Innocent Nebi told the jam parked court that he will not be handling the case but rather Magistrate Thokozani Soko will handle the case and all other applications.
“Since I will not be the one handling the case, I chose to leave the rest to my colleague and today the court will neither enter into plea nor make any application,” he said.
Wandale the first accused, made a bail application but police prosecutor, Southern Region prosecutor David Mtete suggested that it would be wise if all the matters involving the case were to be handled by the appointed magistrate, a suggestion the magistrate accepted.
“As the police, we brought the suspects to court so that they should be made aware of the charges in compliance with the 48 hour rule of section 42 (2b) of the republican constitution.
On September 1 2016, Wandale led a group of people who invaded Conforzi Plantations Limited ready to share land currently under the Conforzi Tea Estate claiming that the land was grabbed from their forefathers by the tea estate owners.
