By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean magistrate put off a ruling on Monday on whether a human rights campaigner and other activists charged with plotting to overthrow the government should be freed pending trial.
Jestina Mukoko, head of a local rights group, and two other rights campaigners and six opposition activists were charged last week with recruiting or trying to recruit people to undergo military training to topple President Robert Mugabe's government.
The case has deepened doubts about whether power-sharing between Mugabe and the main opposition is possible in a country now suffering economic meltdown and a cholera outbreak.
A High Court judge last week declaring the detention of Mukoko and her eight co-accused unlawful and ordered their immediate release, but the government appealed.
Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe reserved judgement until Wednesday on whether the accused, who appeared in court, should be freed pending trial.
He said the accused -- some of whom have accused police of torture -- should be allowed to see a doctor of their choice while in a prison hospital.
Mukoko and her co-accused appeared in court in green uniforms with their hands and feet shackled. They included a woman carrying her 2-year-old child.
A further nine opposition activists were charged on Monday: seven with banditry and bombing police stations and two on lesser charges.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition MDC, has threatened to suspend negotiations with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party over the case.
14 OTHER DETAINEES
The High Court last week also ordered 14 other activists, mainly opposition supporters who did not appear in court, to be freed from police custody because their detention was illegal.
The activists' lawyers said police were using delaying tactics to keep them in custody, and filed a contempt of court charge on Monday against the police for refusing to free them.
South Africa, the country with the greatest influence on Zimbabwe, said on Monday that the arrests should not delay the formation of a government.
"We think the most important step is to form a unity government," presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe said. "There are many issues that need to be addressed by a unity government. This is one of them."
He also said South Africa had reversed an earlier decision to hold back $30 million (21 million pounds) in agricultural aid to Zimbabwe until a unity government was formed.
He said the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, made worse by a cholera epidemic that has killed over 1,500 people, had become too serious and farming and other supplies were badly needed.
SADC mediation has failed to push Zimbabwe's rival parties into implementing the power-sharing deal and trying to stem a crisis marked by rampant unemployment, hyperinflation and severe shortages of basic goods.
Tsvangirai won the first round of voting in March elections, but fell short of the majority needed to become president, triggering a run-off which Mugabe won after the MDC leader pulled out, citing violent attacks on his supporters.
