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Qhubekani Dube celebrates freedom with his children, Qhubekani Jnr, 12, Nonhlanhla, 8, and Brian, 20. —Pic by Temba Dube

Temba Dube Deputy News Editor
The Zimbabwean truck driver who has been locked up without trial at Livingstone State Prison in Zambia for an armed robbery he did not commit has finally been freed following publication of his plight by Chronicle.

Father of three Qhubekani Dube of Pumula East, Bulawayo was arrested on January 12 charged with robbing Inter Africa Bureau De Change at Kazungula in Zambia of $17,000 on December 31 last year.

Exactly 10 months after his incarceration and many mistrials, Dube was acquitted last week and arrived home to an emotional welcome from his family.

Despite evidence that he was in the Democratic Republic of Congo when the crime was committed he was kept in jail. His trial failed to kick off because of many reasons, among them failure by the prosecutor, his lawyer or the victim to show up in court.

He told Chronicle he would not wish even his worst enemy to experience what he underwent in prison.

“I was at the gates of hell. You can’t imagine the suffering I went through as I continued to receive reports that my children were dropping out of school. My life has been at a standstill while I was in prison for a crime I didn’t commit,” said Dube.

“It’s thanks to Chronicle that I’m free today. In January I wrote letters to both the Zambian and Zimbabwe embassies but I got no reply. They only started moving when the story was published in the Chronicle in July,” said an emotional Dube.

He said a number of his creditors had obtained default judgments against him when he was in prison while some business deals he had been negotiating had fallen through.

“My brother, I can’t even begin to describe prison conditions. That’s a place you should stay away from at all costs. For me it was more painful because I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. I couldn’t eat the food and relied on truckers passing through Zambia for handouts,” he said as his children hugged him.

Dube told Chronicle that the prosecutor, Jonathan Chenda through Dube’s lawyer a Major Kasonga of KBF and Partners had demanded a $2,000 or K10,000 bribe to secure his release, adding he still had the message in his phone to prove it.

The lawyer declined to comment when contacted for comment.

Dube said his family and fellow truckers, especially Gift Murapa the managing director of Crystal Clearing Agents in Victoria Falls fought to make the issue public resulting in him being set free.

Sources in Zambia said that country’s government sent officers from the anti-corruption unit to Livingstone to investigate after publication of Dube’s plight by the Chronicle. “The team discovered Dube was innocent. The prosecutor working on the case was changed and the court issued a Nolle Prosequi – meaning they were unwilling to prosecute as there was no evidence. There is a huge shake up and heads might roll,” said a source.

Dube’s mother Gogo Lucy Dube, 73, wept as she hugged her son.

“I’d lost hope of ever seeing him again. Life had become difficult without him. My grandchildren were dropping out of school. His eldest son Brian is doing Lower Six. We were forced to transfer him to a rural school in Gwanda’s Ntepe area where he walked about 20 kilometres daily to school,” said Gogo Dube.

She said she could not sleep during Dube’s incarceration as she feared for his life.

“Horrible things happen to people in prison. I thought he would fall sick or be killed by other prisoners. I was even more afraid when the story started coming out in the Press as I thought he might be poisoned,” she said.

A book co-authored by Prison Care and Counselling Association of Zambia (Prissca), Aids and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (Arasa) and Human Rights Watch, titled Unjust and Unhealthy, HIV, TB and Abuse in Zambian Prisons, says that more than one third of Zambia’s prisoners have never been convicted of any crime, but are held on remand or as immigration detainees.

“Compounding poor conditions and health (in the prisons) are criminal justice system failures that keep prisoners incarcerated needlessly for years. Overcrowding in Zambia’s prisons is so severe that inmates sleep seated; food provision is so inadequate,” reads the book.