HARARE – An opposition councillor was acquitted on Wednesday after being charged with disorderly conduct for criticising President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule, his lawyers said.
Brian Kembo, the MDC’s Ward 3 councillor in Bindura, Mashonaland Central, “allegedly stated that Mnangagwa is liable for causing the suffering that citizens are currently enduring”, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said.
Bindura magistrate Maria Musika acquitted Kembo at the close of the prosecution case after his lawyer Idirashe Chikomba applied for discharge.
Kembo, 36, was arrested over comments he made after boarding a commuter bus on October 24 last year.
In conversation with another man, the prosecution said Kembo blamed President Mnangagwa for failing to alleviate the current economic crisis, which has led to price hikes on basic commodities in the country.
Further, he allegedly stated that several people in Zimbabwe were stressed owing to Mnangagwa’s failure to fix the country’s economic crisis after claiming victory in the 2018 presidential election.
Criticism of President Mnangagwa has led to dozens of arrests. The Constitutional Court has found a law under which many were charged for “undermining the authority of the president” to be unconstitutional, and as a result pro-regime prosecutors have become even more creative, using public order laws to charge Mnangagwa’s critics. They say criticism of the Zanu PF leader can lead to public clashes.
Meanwhile, in Marondera, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it secured $100 bail for Councillor Charles Ngwenya and Paul Chikuni charged with obstructing the course of justice and undermining the police by allegedly telling police officers “to concern themselves with arresting President Mnangagwa who organised an anti-sanctions march instead of harassing vendors.”
