Walter Mzembi’s lawyer Job Sikhala said the former Foreign Affairs Minister is admitted in the intensive care unit of a private South African hospital and is unable to attend his fraud trial in Harare.
He said this when he appeared before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba after the State threatened to apply for a warrant of arrest against Mzembi for choosing not to attend court.
Mashamba granted an administrative warrant for Mzembi as requested by Sikhala. Said Sikhala:
Your Worship, my client has a serious health condition which I disclosed under camera when we appeared before your sister magistrate Tilda Mazhande last week. It is on this background that he is not in attendance today.
He will take 10 days in the intensive care unit and is restricted to move or fly, as his condition is serious. He is unable to walk or do any other business up to a period of six weeks and it will be proper for the State to ask for an administrative warrant.
