Magaya Takes Rape, Fraud Case to High Court, Slams ‘Unconstitutional Detention’
Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya has mounted a fierce legal counterattack, filing an urgent High Court application to overturn a ruling that placed him on remand for rape and fraud charges.
Through Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, Magaya argues that Harare regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa acted unlawfully by entertaining the State’s remand application despite his illegal over-detention, which he says violated Section 50(3) of Zimbabwe’s Constitution.
In his court papers, the embattled preacher says he was held beyond the 48-hour constitutional limit before being brought to court a move he claims rendered his entire detention process unconstitutional.
“The State’s concession to my over-detention removed any factual dispute,” Magaya says in his founding affidavit.
“What remained was a pure question of law whether I ought to have been released immediately as the Constitution commands.”
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He accuses Magistrate Gofa of “abdication of duty”, saying her ruling effectively rolled back constitutional gains made since 2013 by implying that his only remedy was to sue for damages instead of being released.
According to Magaya, this reasoning “strips the constitutional guarantee of its practical force” and emboldens the State to detain suspects unlawfully.
Magaya’s legal team says Gofa misapplied case law, citing Agripa Mloyi v The State (HB 123/20) which dealt with a bail application instead of the binding 2015 precedent in Panganai Davison Madondo v The State.
In that landmark ruling, Justice Happias Zhou declared that any suspect brought to court after the 48-hour limit “must be released immediately”, calling such detentions “unconstitutional and incurably illegal.”
According to ZimLive, Magaya’s lawyers argue that Justice Zhou’s judgment applies squarely to his case, and that Magistrate Gofa’s decision to remand him “cannot stand in law.”
The self-proclaimed prophet, facing five counts of rape and 13 counts of fraud, insists that the allegations are fabricated.
He claims the Zimbabwe Gender Commission “manufactured” the rape complaints by publicly calling for women to come forward a process he says tainted the credibility of the accusations.
Magaya further alleges that his November 1 arrest was conducted “in a deeply troubling manner,” claiming that heavily armed police stormed his prayer premises at dawn and denied him access to his lawyers for more than six hours.
In his review application, he warns that tolerating such conduct would allow “law enforcement agents to regard themselves as a law unto their own,” urging the High Court to step in to “restore the rule of law and protect constitutional rights.”
Magaya is seeking an order setting aside Magistrate Gofa’s November 4 ruling and removing him from remand on all charges.
